BATON ROUGE - Construction continues on the Rouzan development off of Perkins Road and developers shed light on their plan to turn a piece of property into its own community.

“It's quite exciting at Rouzan today,” Charles Landry, the developer, said.

Sprouts and a few businesses sit near the development, but there isn't a lot going on in the area. 

“This is not a gated community. It is open, but it has really accelerated the redevelopment of a lot of the property around Rouzan,” Landry said. 

Drivers going down Perkins have probably noticed construction continuing on the Rouzan development and have passed the sign promising a new bank soon. But the bank is a part of a larger community coming to Baton Rouge. 

“Kidz Carousel, the leading childcare center getting ready to start. We have our Lady of the Lake clinic under construction. We have Concordia Bank under construction. Right here to my left, there's 277 highest end apartments,” he said. 

The whole idea of the Rouzan development is to move the area forward by bringing it back a couple decades. 

“The idea is that we have a very walkable, pedestrian-friendly environment. That's the true vision of Rouzan. That it is more like what we lived in in the 50s and the early 60s, as opposed to large lots where people were isolated,” Landry explained. 

One of the most important factors of the new development is the activity it is bringing to a city where blight is a pressing problem. 

“Rouzan has done, in my opinion, more for the south Baton Rouge, the Southdowns area than you can even imagine. The property values have really skyrocketed,” Landry said. 

Landry says construction on the entire development will be complete in the next 18 to 24 months.