BATON ROUGE - On Wednesday, the EBR Metro Council moved forward with a plan to redevelop the Raising Cane's River Center, choosing to accept Hunden Partners as the City-Parish's Owner's Advisor for the project.

"We've been working on this right at a year," EBR Metro Councilmember, District 10, Carolyn Coleman said.

In April 2024, then Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome shared a plan to revitalize the Raising Cane's River Center and also building an adjacent hotel with the goal of building out the convention space.

Hunden representatives told councilmembers they envision a 350 key full service hotel with a ballroom, concert venue and meeting rooms paired with a redevelopment of the River Center.

While some were in favor, others raised concerns.

"Do you need to do this at this time, that's the question. Do you need to do this at this time? When you have the DA screaming for money, when you have the fire department, the police department, crime, this is the season where you have to cut grass!" Former EBR Metro Councilmember Darrell Glasper said.

The motion passed with District 5 EBR Metro Councilmember Darryl Hurst voting against, citing his desire to see more data before making a decision.

"I've never seen a plan. I've heard people telling me their thoughts and feelings about moving forward, but I've never seen data that proves why," Hurst said.

Coleman said it is time to get the ball rolling.

"This is Baton Rouge, this is the capital of Louisiana and we need to keep that in mind, this is just the first step," she said.