BATON ROUGE - The LSU Property Foundation is moving forward with plans to develop an outdated area of campus along Nicholson Drive.

The group announced Monday, it is working on an agreement with RISE Real Estate to develop the property between West Chimes Street and Skip Bertman Drive. The area, pictured in this story, will feature new student residence halls and other amenities on a 28-acre site of the Nicholson Drive Corridor.

LSU is not expected to assume any financing risk or place any capital into the Nicholson Gateway Development Project, which will be constructed with 100-percent private financing, the university said in a news release about the development.

"We look forward to making this exciting project a reality for the LSU community," Rob Stuart, chair of the Nicholson Gateway Development Project Committee, said.

The Nicholson Gateway Development Project hopes to turn the area northwest of Tiger Stadium into housing and campus businesses. It is the largest remaining underdeveloped tract of university property.

"The mixed-use nature of Nicholson Gateway will create an environment designed to attract students, sports fans and the surrounding community," project organizers said in a previously written post on the Gateway website.

The Nicholson Gateway Development Project is envisioned to include approximately 1,260 apartment-style beds and 410 suite-style beds with associated residential support spaces, such as lounge spaces, study areas, community gathering places and retail food service. The project also is expected to include 30,000 to 50,000 square feet of new retail space to primarily serve residents of the project, the LSU community and visitors.

A final deal with RISE is still be established, but it is set to include Baton Rouge-based Remson Haley Herpin; The Lemoine Company, which has a Baton Rouge office; Niles Bolton Associates; and other team members, to be finalized in the coming weeks.

Construction currently is anticipated to start by late 2016, with occupancy to occur in fall 2018.

The project is expected to anchor the southern end of a revitalization effort along Nicholson Drive in Old South Baton Rouge. Already, construction is underway closer to downtown on a mixed-use development at the corner of Nicholson and Oklahoma. A block away, construction is taking shape on the Water Campus - a multi-building research center to study the Mississippi River, coastal restoration and sustainability.

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