BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Preservationists are demanding information after plans were revealed recently for a 17,000-square-foot housing complex at the Pentagon Barracks, a historical site in Baton Rouge.
The Pentagon Barracks were constructed between 1819 and 1822 to house United States troops.
It was used as a garrison between 1822 and 1877. The grounds were also the site of Louisiana State University before it moved to its current location off of Highland Road.
“It’s a huge asset for Baton Rouge,” said former Baton Rouge Chief Administrative Officer Darryl Gissel. “Even the legislators, even on my own end, when you go through the national register of historic places, I had no idea the likes of Lincoln, Lafayette, and Ulysses Grant, and notables from American history visited this site.”
Gissel serves as the Chairman of the Foundation for Historic Louisiana. Gissel said preservationists are alarmed at what’s being planned here.
“They are trying to build a 17,000-square-foot apartment structure here,” said Gissel. “We assume it would look like the buildings here, but we really don’t know.”
The WAFB I-TEAM found an architectural services request that is dated March 5, 2025. The project would include the new building, which would house state legislators.
Part of that service request spells out that the state historic preservation officer (SHPO) would need to be made aware of certain details from the project.
“The designer will need to plan and coordinate design options for the site and complex with the state historic preservation officer SHPO so as not to endanger the status of this historic property,” it states.
Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser is over the SHPO and said they were never notified about what’s being planned for this historic site. He says that when they asked to learn more, they became aware that officials planned to meet and discuss the project. Nungesser added that they learned the conversation was not open to the public.
“Our department called and was told it was not a public meeting,” said Nungesser. “It was a selection meeting, what I’m told, to select the architecture firm to work on the plans.”
Sources provided the I-TEAM with an agenda that showed the architecture board was scheduled to meet today in executive session. Our sources added that the purpose of the meeting was to interview architects for the Pentagon Barracks project. An executive session is when a public body goes behind closed doors to conduct its business, typically for things like pending litigation.
Nungesser said that although the Pentagon Barracks need renovations, there was never talk about adding new apartments at the site.
“We’ve been trying to get money to fix the bricks on the building since I got elected,” said Nungesser. “There was a study done, and there was money in priority 2 for those repairs of the bricks for fear of moisture getting into the walls and having to gut the buildings. We are trying to move it quickly to fix the bricks to keep them in the contents they are in, but it hasn’t moved as we hoped.”
While getting money to fix the bricks appears to be complex, the architecture plans for the new building appear to already be funded. The request for services states the project will cost more than eight million dollars.
“I’m not even sure that the legislators even understand what’s going on here,” said Gissel. “We are trying to make certain our Baton Rouge legislators are aware of protecting this asset for Baton Rouge.”
The Pentagon Barracks is listed online under the State House of Representatives. Calls and emails to Speaker Phillip Devillier were not returned on Wednesday.
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