By james art BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Bond Commission has given final approval to the Baton Rouge Visitors Bureau’s plan to borrow money so it can buy and renovate a vacant century-old building on Lafayette Street and turn it into its headquarters.
The panel announced Tuesday that Visit Baton Rouge can borrow up to $7 million at an interest rate not to exceed 6 percent and a term of less than 20 years. Proceeds will purchase the building at 232 Lafayette Street.
The location is across the street from the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center, which was formerly known as the Heidelberg.
Visit Baton Rouge currently occupies a location on Third Street.
The bond commission took action at its meeting last week.
The Downtown Development District says the building at 232 Lafayette St. was built in 1923. A real estate listing says it has about 14,000 square feet of space and qualifies for multiple tax credit programs. The list price was just under $1.1 million.