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Perry Franklin likes the idea that if some imaginary giant were to step over the Mississippi River downtown and stomp to the suburbs along Florida Boulevard, he'd take out some thriving developments and commercial properties along the way.

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Why would that please Franklin, head of the Mid City Redevelopment Alliance, a community non-profit that promotes development of a 1,000-block swath between North and South Baton Rouge?

Because just a few years ago those giant feet would have landed on mostly empty buildings.

"It used to be that you had to drive on Florida from Interstate 110 to North 22nd Street before you got to a major new investment," Franklin says.

While downtown has rallied strongly in the past few years, that enthusiasm has remained pent up within the artificial barrier of I-110. Just a few blocks east of the interstate, the vacant Dillard's building until recently stood as a glaring example: More than 350,000 square feet of retail yesteryear sat a block off Florida Boulevard, surrounded by empty parking lots.

"It was about like a headstone," says Franklin.

But the property, the original home of Godchaux's and once renowned as the longest department store in the world, is coming back to life.

Renaissance Park is its newest incarnation. California real estate firm Orton Development bought the property a year ago and is investing up to $10 million refurbishing the property in hopes of attracting tenants ranging from government agencies to call centers to small businesses (See related story, page 32).

"The building resonates with local history--it's where I got my first pair of Hush Puppies, it's where many Baton Rougeans took their first picture with Mr. Bingle," Franklin says. "This is a symbolic investment that says old Baton Rouge is coming back into vogue."

Renaissance Park is the latest in a series of major investments at key spots along Florida Boulevard between I-110 and Airline Highway.

Baton Rouge Community College continues to enjoy breakneck growth. BREC plans to move its headquarters into the vacant Sears building at Ardenwood Drive. Baton Rouge General Medical Center continues to invest millions of dollars updating its campus. And after years of stumbling, a renovated Bon Carre--the old Bon Marche mall--is 70% leased, home to companies including high-tech startups and Cox Communications.

Gutting it out

Much of Florida Boulevard's current renaissance dates back to a decision by Baton Rouge General Medical Center 14 years ago.

Tom Sawyer and other executives at General Health System recognized their flagship campus was surrounded by a neighborhood that was crumbling. Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center was thriving in the suburbs, and Ochsner Foundation soon would swoop into the market with new facilities.

Sawyer knew that to remain competitive, the General needed a healthy neighborhood. Though the company added its own suburban facilities on Bluebonnet Boulevard, it could not turn its back on a $100 million investment in its main facility.

So the board of directors created a nonprofit agency and gave it the mission of revitalizing the area. In 1991, the Mid City Redevelopment Alliance was born.

"They asked, 'What can we do as a community-owned asset to ensure the heart of Baton Rouge gets stronger?'" says Franklin, who has headed the agency for six years.

General Health has pumped $3.7 million into the surrounding neighborhood for things such as housing grants and cleanup campaigns. Originally the focus was the 67 blocks immediately around the campus. But over the years, Mid City Redevelopment has broadened its scope. While grant money stays in those immediate blocks, the agency now promotes economic development in the area between North and South Baton Rouge.

"Baton Rouge General in Mid City is truly the economic engine for the success everyone is having now," says CEO Bill Holman. "Winning breeds winning."

Despite speculation that Baton Rouge General will move or become part of the state's charity system, Holman says the company is committed remaining in Mid City. Holman points out that employment at the Mid City site is up to 1,800 people, and the average number of hospital patients is up to 220 from 140 in 2000.

"I feel that for us to continue to be strong and viable, we need two campuses," Holman says. "If the community around us is successful, that makes us more so."

Death and rebirth

In the late 1990s, just up the road from the General, Bon Marche Mall was gasping. Unglamorous discounters struggled beside aging department stores and a movie theater.

The mall died, but before long a group of investors decided to transform it into Bon Carre, a bold mix of office and retail. After several halts in construction and major roadblocks--including the conviction of a key investor who turned out to be a Ponzi scheme crook--Bon Carre found traction, albeit in a slightly different form.

The State of Louisiana decided to establish a high tech business incubator, Technology Park, there. Later, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation's Commercial Properties Inc. stepped in. Under Camm Morton's direction, Bon Carre hammered out key lease deals with tenants, including Cox Communications.

Bon Carre's rebirth is sparking economic development in nearby neighborhoods.

Kornmeyer's Furniture is one of Florida Boulevard's senior retailers, a store dating back generations. Reports that the Bahlinger family planned to build a new store near Interstate 10 in South Baton Rouge was viewed by some as evidence of Florida Boulevard's further decline.

But in November the company announced a renovation and expansion of its Florida Boulevard store, which is a block east of Bon Carre. Bon Carre's snazzy new exterior, modern nighttime lighting and the fact that it's mostly leased up has energized commerce in the area, says Rosemary Williams, executive vice president and general manager of Kornmeyer's.

"It's really impressive, even at night, and that reflects well for us to have something looking like that across the street," Williams says. "And our customers tell us it's easy to shop here. You don't get stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic."

That's not to say there isn't any. In fact, recent studies show an increase in daily traffic volume. Florida's three-lane design with turning lanes at intersections keeps things flowing fairly smoothly.

But what about the neighborhood? In the 1970s, developers built row upon row of new apartments around Bon Marche to house all the young professionals who would be working, eating and shopping there.

Yet apartments went begging, and soon government-funded housing for low-income tenants took over, followed by a plunge into poverty and crime. The name "Mall City" became synonymous with drug dealing and bodies on the pavement.

"Mall City died while nobody was looking," says Howard Gyler, a Dallas real estate investor who now owns 173 apartment units in four separate complexes behind Bon Carre. He and his partners have invested more than $4 million in the neighborhood, snapping up complexes on the cheap starting in 2003.

"Are all the outright steals still there? Sorry, snooze you lose," Gyler jokes. But he's making a larger point: He's not the only developer renovating the abundant apartment complexes, and the activity has pushed up property values.

When he started buying apartments in Mall City, now called Melrose East, he paid $4,200 per unit. In July, the federal government auctioned a comparable, vacant complex called Tall Timbers on Ardenwood. It went for more than $13,000 per unit.

"So much so that I can't afford to buy it anymore," says Gyler, who has spent his career developing apartments in California and Texas.

Rents are up, too. One-bedroom apartments that rented for $250 to $275 in early 2003 now fetch $275 to $360.

Gyler also has invested time in the neighborhood, helping create a new neighborhood association.

"When I got there in January 2003, the good people hid in their apartments and the criminals just hung out and did whatever they wanted," Gyler said. "It's not that way anymore, and the police get a lot of credit."

Bill Whitaker, vice president of commercial lending for Region's Bank in Baton Rouge, has arranged construction financing and permanent loans on three of Gyler's apartment complexes.

There was initial hesitance in the banking community to make loans in the neighborhood. But the merits of each deal have made sense, and the bank has had good returns in the 18 months since, Whitaker says.

"This was a straight-up business construction loan with investor capital in it, no tax credits in it--this was such a clean deal," Whitaker says. "They've stayed within budget, they've done a wonderful job."

Another resurrection