2023 IDA Downtown Value Report
View IDA Downtown Value Report Online
IDA Downtown Value Report Summary
A city’s strength and prosperity depend on a strong downtown and center city, which serves as a center of culture, knowledge, and innovation. The performance of districts and center cities strengthens an entire region’s economic productivity, inclusion, vibrancy, identity, and resilience. Downtown Baton Rouge has a significant impact on the city's economic, cultural, and social fabric.
The Downtown Development District (DDD) is made up of areas with significantly different characters ranging from the bustling Central Business District (CBD), which people typically refer to when referencing downtown, to the single-family neighborhoods of Beauregard Town, Spanish Town, Downtown East, and a portion of South Baton Rouge. For this report, data was primarily compiled from the census tracts that intersect with the DDD, if data specific to the DDD boundaries was not available. The downtown study area is approximately four square miles. It is home to approximately 10,500 people, translating to a density of residents that is roughly two and a half times 2 greater than East Baton Rouge Parish’s average of 1.6 residents per acre. This density extends to downtown’s role as an employment hub, too. Its office buildings are filled with 29,700 primary jobs, making up roughly 20% of the city's employment base.
The Value of U.S. Downtowns and Center Cities research articulates the inherent value a downtown provides to the greater city, highlighting a district’s contributions based upon 150+ key data points in the principles of Economy, Inclusion, Vibrancy, Identity, and Resilience. IDA's 2020 data showed that study downtowns outpaced their cities in residential growth between 2000 and 2020, growing an average of 46% against the citywide average of 15%.
