BATON ROUGE — A plan to build a thriving community in the Scotlandville area of East Baton Rouge Parish is in the works, with organizers aiming to bring housing, healthcare, food and stores to the area.

The goal is to drive more families to live and stay in North Baton Rouge. Organizers say the plan was shaped by feedback from community surveys and meetings.

The site will be built along Scenic Highway.

"And so, if you have a sizeable investment in a community, that signals to the rest of the ecosystem that people want to be here," Build EBR President and CEO, Deidre Robert said. "They want to spend their dollars here. They want to live here. If you have home sales, right. If retail relocates, then that will drive the conversation and bring people back into this, like I said, historically beautiful community in East Baton Rouge Parish."