BATON ROUGE - A transformation to the Greenwood Community Park and the Baton Rouge Zoo is underway. BREC officials along with local leaders broke ground on construction Tuesday.

"Together the zoo and park will serve as a vital economic driver for the north end of our parish and community as a whole," Mayor- President Sharon Weston Broome said.

The Zoo's main entrance will be relocated. Visitors will be able to drive through Greenwood Park to get to the zoo, bringing the two attractions together.

"You can imagine a dramatic arrival sequence from the current entrance to the park that will meander through the park and arrive at a new zoo entry plaza and a new zoo entry building," BREC Assistant Superintendent Reed Richard said.

Inside, people will see $40 million in improvements. This includes a giraffe exhibit, new feeding stations and an underwater hippo exhibit.

"We're presenting entirely new, unique, high-quality attractions... Modern zoo exhibits, and iconic recreational environments that have never been seen before in the parish," Richard said.

The project is part of phase one of the master plan and is expected to be complete in 2022.