BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Bond Commission has given final approval to a plan by the Baton Rouge visitors bureau to borrow money so it can buy and renovate a vacant century-old building on Lafayette Street and turn it into its headquarters.

The panel announced Tuesday that Visit Baton Rouge could borrow up to $7 million at an interest rate not to exceed 6 percent and a term of less than 20 years. Proceeds would buy the building at 232 Lafayette Street.

The site is across the street from the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center, which was formerly known as the Heidelberg. 

Visit Baton Rouge currently occupies space on Third Street.

The Bond Commission took action at its meeting last week.

The Downtown Development District says the building at 232 Lafayette Street was built in 1923. A real estate listing says it has about 14,000 square feet of space and qualifies for multiple tax credit programs. The list price was just less than $1.1 million.