225BatonRouge.com

Both denizens and visitors of Baton Rouge keep I-10 packed amid the city’s rapid growth, but one especially colorful building has been commanding their attention for months: the University Inn and its pineapple yellow façade.

The hotel’s skin, thankfully, is temporary. It’s unfinished insulation, exposed for many months while the owners remodel. Rosario Damico, general manager, says the company planned to refinish the hotel long ago, but the Department of Public Works’ permit withheld appropriate permits to proceed with the project. DPW Director Peter Newkirk confirmed that, upon inspection, the department discovered that the hotel actually had pulled a permit to remodel the interior, yet had begun remaking the exterior. So DPW ordered a halt to the work until the hotel could pull the proper permit. Damico said in August the exterior would be completed in two to three months. The independently owned hotel is to be re-named Red Lion Hotel. Eventually, the yellow insulation will be tucked within burnt orange stucco with a Southwestern vibe.