page_title: Belle of Baton Rouge
section_title: Catfish Town (1984–1992)
hierarchical_section_title: Belle of Baton Rouge / History / Catfish Town (1984–1992)
caption_attribution_description: English: The casino boat of the w:Belle of Baton Rouge
context_page_description: The Belle of Baton Rouge is a riverboat casino and hotel in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties and operated by Caesars Entertainment.
context_section_description: The Belle atrium is located at Catfish Town, a historic warehouse district that was redeveloped and opened as a festival marketplace in July 1984. The $30-million project was developed by a group led by Jerry Dodson, with part of the budget financed by the city government using grant money from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. 
  Catfish Town struggled to attract tenants and shoppers, and by November 1986, its developers had decided to cut their losses. Ownership was transferred in December 1987 to Allied Bank, the primary mortgage holder, as a deed in lieu of foreclosure. The bank's property managers reoriented Catfish Town toward being an office park, based on a marketing study that found that Baton Rouge did not have the population or tourism base to support a festival marketplace. The Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) was brought in as a tenant in December 1989, and would come to occupy more than half of the complex's leasable space.
  Catfish Town was put up for sale in April 1992 by NAB Asset Corp., which had come to own the property through a series of bank reorganizations. The RTC had given notice that it would vacate its offices in January 1993, but NAB hoped that the soon-to-be nearly vacant complex would be attractive to an owner-occupant. Louisiana had legalized riverboat casinos in July 1991, and multiple gaming operators had expressed interest in Catfish Town.
caption: The casino boat, with enclosed walkways leading to it
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