BATON ROUGE - Randy Rice lives in the subdivision next to the site where a multi-purpose building has been going up for years.

"This development will totally change forever landscape of historic Highland Road," he said.

He and hundreds of others have emailed their concerns about the project to their Metro Council representatives.

"We've heard all sorts of things, there will be dormitories, office space, an event center, even the scuttlebutt of a service station, but we really don't know because we've not had any conversation."

The project in question is Aztek Cove, located near the Country Club of Louisiana. It was originally approved to be built in 2018, but so far no structures have gone up. The project consists of two buildings on more than nine acres. According to the developer, it will house several technology companies as well as an "advanced training center."
Plans also include a business center, fine dining and shops.

Construction has been stalled for several years due to a lawsuits and other red tape.

According to Councilmembers Rowdy Gaudet and Dwight Hudson, because of money the developer says was lost during that period, he now wants to create an economic development district around Aztek Cove to be funded through taxes, totaling around $35 million.

"Why would we do that?" asked Rice. "Why would our taxpayer dollars go toward a private project development?"

However, late Tuesday evening, the developer told us that none of the project's costs will fall on taxpayers—and adds that it will generate over a $100 million in earned income in the first ten years.

The request to create the EDD was put on the docket by District 10 Councilwoman Carolyn Coleman and will be heard at next week's Metro Council meeting.