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# Visit Baton Rouge is trading places
- URL: https://www.redeyebr.com/vbr-moving/
- Published: 2026-03-06T13:00:47.000Z
- Updated: 2026-03-09T21:58:09.000Z
- Description: The tourism organization will sell a prime downtown spot when it moves around the corner
- Author: Mukul Verma
- Tags: News

Baton Rouge’s tourism bureau is weeks away from soliciting bids to transform theshell of a building on Lafayette Street into **a new headquarters**—and plans to sell its current building on a prime downtown corner, CEO Jill Kidder tells *RedEye*.

**Why it matters:** The move signals Visit Baton Rouge’s bet that a more prominent, better-equipped home base can help spark the kind of street-level vitality that can turn downtown into more of a destination.

**What’s happening:** VBR has outgrown its current 7,500-square-foot office on Third Street and will relocate to a gutted building at 232 Lafayette Street, renovating it into roughly 13,000 square feet of purpose-built space.

The new headquarters will include a pair of small meeting rooms, though it will not compete against private-sector offerings.

Under consideration is a modest retail component selling Baton Rouge-themed goods by local artists and craftspeople. “We want to add retail downtown,” said Kidder.

VBR’s existing building, which sits on the corner of Third and Laurel streets and includes a parking lot, will be put up for sale—though the bureau intends to remain there until the new space is ready, estimated by summer 2027\. Offers will be considered now.

**A bit of history:** The future VBR headquarters was originally a print shop. Architect Trey Trahan purchased it more than a decade ago, but decided to decamp to New Orleans, where he has a thriving practice.

**The bottom line:** Kidder wants downtown to be a destination, not merely a waypoint. A tourism headquarter that also sells local goods and helps visitors get their bearings is perfectly aligned with that goal.

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