Cook: Mid City medical building sells, with plans for partial renovation

Published Aug 7, 2012 at 9:00 am (Updated Aug 7, 2012)

Charlie Colvin of Beau Box Commercial Real Estate Company listed the VA Hospital at 216 Foster Dr., across from the Baton Rouge Community College campus, a few months ago for $1.8 million. It sold last week for $1.6 million, or nearly $45 per square foot. The 36,000-square-foot hospital sits on about 3.4 acres. The seller was MHS Development Associates, and the purchaser was Baton Rouge Area Alcohol and Drug Center. The VA had been leasing the space for years but recently moved to a new facility. Lisa Bailey, director of the Baton Rouge Alcohol and Drug Center, says a portion of the building will be renovated to create a 60-bed inpatient recovery facility. In addition, the building will be used for office and outpatient counseling space. The rehabilitation center will also include the creation of a "sobering unit," where police officers can bring individuals who are publicly intoxicated: Those individuals will be able to stay there for up to eight hours, and will then be encouraged to get counseling. Bailey says that when the police currently pick someone up for public intoxication, they either bring them to jail or take them to the emergency room. Thus, the sobering unit will take some of the pressure off the parish prison and local hospital emergency rooms, she says. Renovations will begin as soon as the plans are drawn, while outpatient counseling will begin immediately.

(Appraiser Tom Cook owns Cook Moore and Associates. Reach him at 293-7006 or TCook@cookmoore.com.)