2013 ends with improvements, accomplishments

It’s not your imagination, 2013 has been an on-the-move year, but before we motor into 2014, let’s remember all the accomplishments and partnerships downtown has seen during the year past.

CoHabitat, our entrepreneurialdriven co-working space is in fresh new digs in the Red River District, bringing new life and new opportunities to the district. CoHab’s new space includes “Cookhouse,” a commercial kitchen available for caterers, new restaurant concepts and testing of new recipes and equipment. It will also be home to a new concept called Lunch Counter that will unveil soon. As the opportunities at CoHab expand, memberships, partnerships and sponsorships are being sought to attract even more entrepreneurs into the space.

The Red River District as a whole is seeing a resurgence. It is clean, well-lit and attractive, home to a Friday evening live music series and a new Fully Stacked hamburger restaurant. Country music star Kix Brooks has inked a deal with the city and is showing investors fabulous plans for a fine dining steak and wine restaurant planned for a large space on the Eldorado Resort side of the district.

Things are blowing and going on the west side of downtown, as well. Shreveport Regional Arts Council has unleashed a monthly series of art events called UNSCENE! in the area known as Shreveport Common.

These events are made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and partnership with the City of Shreveport and feature festivals, parades, drive-in movies, live music, art installations and more. In fact, if you can dream it, UNSCENE! will likely create it! Interest in Shreveport Common remains high and a market study and analysis of the opportunities of the nine-block area will be released by the end of the year. The market study was made possible by the Community Foundation, Downtown Shreveport Development Corporation, the City of Shreveport, Parish of Caddo, JP Morgan Chase Foundation, Downtown Development Authority and SRAC. artspace, in the 700 block of Texas, continues to anchor the West Edge and a new façade with historic canopy and colorful lighting was recently completed. Robinson Film Center continues to bring in patrons for great independent, foreign and art house films but now the viewing experience is better than ever. RFC raised the funds needed to convert to digital projectors, and it is amazing how bright, colorful and crystal-clear the films are now.

Buildings downtown continue to change hands and two spaces – the old Lake Street Dance Hall and the former YWCA – are being re-envisioned for the creation and sale of art, art classes and other art-related opportunities.

Work continues on new residential and commercial space in several buildings downtown including the old Sears building in the 600 block of Texas where workmen can be spotted daily. Renovations at other buildings were completed this year, including amazing rehabs at the George T. Bishop Building on Spring Street, the Central Artstation on Crockett and to several buildings in the 700 block of Texas. The most recent building to be upgraded is Home Federal Bank in the 600 block of Market. The bank, not satisfied with just making its building look better, has spurred improvements in nearly the entire block. Historic buildings downtown continue to be our bread and butter so we were happy to play a role with other DDAs from around the state during the spring Legislative session to get state historic tax credits extended. Along with that, DDA and DSDC are updating the downtown commercial historic district, which will make even more buildings tax-credit eligible. These tax credits will help in the eventual rehabilitation of the old Arlington Hotel, which was recently acquired by the City of Shreveport. Bond issue improvements to Oakland Cemetery are complete, and work to improve the stage, sound, lighting and functionality of Municipal Memorial Auditorium is in the final stages. Last but not least is that downtown continues to be THE place for events with hugely popular art, music, food and culture festivals and a Farmers’ Market that is second to none. We are looking forward to more fun, opportunities and progress in 2014!

Liz Swaine is the executive director of the Downtown Development Authority. She can be reached at [email protected].