BATON ROUGE — The Metro Council on Wednesday approved Mayor-President Sid Edwards to execute a new agreement related to the planned Sports Illustrated Resort in downtown Baton Rouge.

Developers currently plan to renovate the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center into a Sports Illustrated Resort, with a mix of hotel rooms, vacation-ownership units and wholly-owned units. Construction for the conversion is expected to kick off early next year.

The new cooperative endeavor agreement consolidates multiple previous agreements into one agreement between the city-parish, two special taxing districts and the property owner, Northshore Resorts BR LLC, which bought the Hilton property in February.

Plans currently call for a minimum $28 million renovation of the property to convert the nearly 300-room hotel into the resort with 137 hotel rooms, 41 condos and 42 vacation units.

The city-parish, along with a local taxing district and Capitol House Economic Development District, is partnering with the developers to facilitate the economic development project.

Per the new agreement with the city-parish, construction must be completed on the resort within three years for developers to be eligible for reimbursement of costs. Previous agreements limited reimbursement to $41.8 million through 2042, but the new agreement greenlit by the Metro Council this week increases possible reimbursement to $55 million through 2058—if they meet the $24 million construction milestone.

Developers would be reimbursed with funds collected through a mixture of specific occupancy and sales taxes—but only after construction is completed.

An economic impact analysis by local economist James A. Richardson notes that downtown Baton Rouge hotel occupancy rates have been declining, from 70% in 2016 to 57% in 2024 and says that the development of the Sports Illustrated Resorts adds significant potential to the downtown area. Richardson estimates the resort will offer $366.9 million in economic activity over 20 years.

Richardson concluded that the use of public dollars to encourage private investment in the
redevelopment provides public benefits in excess of the public cost.