Executive Director
As Executive Director of the Downtown Development District, Davis Rhorer is responsible for carrying out the mission of the DDD to initiate, incubate and support partnerships that develop and enhance Downtown Baton Rouge.
In this capacity, Rhorer has worked closely with the DDD Board of Directors, private sector partners and local government to revitalize Louisiana’s Capitol City, helping to attract more than $2.4 billion in investments over the last 20 years.
Since the DDD was established in 1987, Rhorer has served as a prominent leader in the development of various plans and initiatives that have transformed the Downtown area, including: the Baton Rouge 2000 Plan, Baton Rouge 2000 Update, the Riverfront Development Plan, the Fourth Street Master Plan, the Capitol Park Master Plan, the New River District Master Plan, the Downtown Visitors’ Amenity Plan and the city’s comprehensive Master Plan for development, Plan Baton Rouge. He is also currently engaged in Phase II of Plan Baton Rouge.
Throughout his tenure, Rhorer has played a key role in various riverfront development projects including: the historic restoration and reopening of the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center, the $30 million expansion of the Baton Rouge River Center, the addition of a planetarium and space theatre to the Louisiana Arts and Science Museum (LASM), the establishment of the Shaw Center for the Arts, and the development, funding and implementation of the biking and walking trail on the levee which connects Downtown to Louisiana State University. He was also instrumental in managing and overseeing the massive consolidation of state office buildings, which has brought more than 3,000 state workers to the Downtown area and resulted in the creation of more than 2 million square feet of new class “A” office buildings.
By establishing the DDD’s Restoration Renaissance program and supporting the development of single and multi-family units, Rhorer has helped to stabilize two of Baton Rouge’s oldest and most historic neighborhoods and brought thousands of new residents Downtown.
With the goal of transforming Baton Rouge into a 24-hour city where people come from all over the world to live, work and play, Rhorer has also aggressively worked to strengthen and enhance Downtown’s infrastructure and position the area as the regional growth center of East Baton Rouge Parish.
In addition to its role as an incubator for economic development, the Downtown Development District also functions as a community service organization, which supports special programming and planning for major Downtown events.
In this capacity, Rhorer serves as an Executive Board Member of the Big River Economic and Agricultural Development Alliance (BREADA), the organization that directs the Farmer’s Market and the Main Street Market. He is also a member of the Rotary Club of Baton Rouge, the East Baton Rouge Metropolitan Council’s Historic Preservation Commission, the Capitol House Taxing District, Hotel King Taxing District, the Mayor-President’s Smart Growth Task Force, the International Downtown Association and the American Planning Association.
He is a 1989 graduate of the Greater Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Class, and a past board member of the American Red Cross and the Playmakers of Baton Rouge. In recent years, he has also served on the Plan Baton Rouge Steering Committee and Mayor-President Melvin “Kip” Holden’s Transition Team, providing input on quality of life and economic development issues.
A native of Baton Rouge, Rhorer has always focused his work on improving the community. Prior to leading the DDD, he worked as an urban planner for the Baton Rouge Planning Commission and the City Parish Office of Community and Economic Development.
He is a graduate of Catholic High School, and he received his bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from Louisiana State University in 1979. He continued his education with postgraduate work in Florence, Italy.
Throughout his career, Rhorer has received numerous community and professional awards. In 1994, he was recognized as one of the Baton Rouge Business Report’s “Top Forty Under Forty.” Two years later he was selected as a Community Hero and had the honor of participating in the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay prior to the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, GA. That same year, he received the Individual Excellence Award from the Baton Rouge Growth Coalition.
Rhorer was also honored as Sacred Heart Elementary School’s Distinguished Graduate in 1998 and as the Sales and Marketing Executive’s (SME) Marketer of the Year in 2000.
In 2004, he was recognized by Governor Kathleen Blanco, the Louisiana House of Representatives and Senate, Mayor Holden and the Metropolitan Council of East Baton Rouge Parish for his work to improve the quality of life for all citizens. In 2005, he also received the prestigious Quality of Life Award from the Baton Rouge Growth Coalition. Under his leadership, the Downtown Development District was awarded two of the highest honors given by the International Downtown Association - The 2008 Outstanding Achievement Award, for the Downtown Baton Rouge Wayfinding Signage Project, and The 2009 Award of Distinction in Downtown Leadership and Management. Mr. Rhorer was presented the 2010 Patron of Landscape Architecture Award by The Louisiana Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. He recently presented a paper at the 2010 World Congress of Downtown and Town Centres in London England. Recently he was honored by the Foundation for Historic Louisiana for his preservation work in downtown Baton Rouge and received the Patron of Architecture award by the Louisiana Architecture Foundation. In September 2011, Mr. Rhorer was elected to serve on the International Downtown Association board of directors and received the 2011 Merit Award for planning for the Downtown Greenway. This marks the fourth year in a row that the DDD has received an IDA award.
He and his wife, Julie, have a son, Davis Stribling Rhorer, Jr., who is a recent graduate of the University of Notre Dame.
Gabriel Vicknair
Development Project Director
As Development Project Director for the Downtown Development District, Gabriel Vicknair assists the Executive Director with responsible project management of special DDD initiatives. Vicknair’s roles at the DDD involve strategic development and implementation of downtown development projects, and advancing the vision outlined in various Downtown Master Plans by working with various public and private sector stakeholders.
Working closely with designers and contractors on projects such as North Boulevard Town Square, Repentance Park, and the Downtown Greenway; Vicknair assist with quality control in project design and construction, as well as assistance in the development of scope of work items and outgoing request for proposals. Vicknair’s duties also include fostering business partnerships, research and identification of economic incentives, and managing numerous marketing and communication initiatives.
While earning a degree in Landscape Architecture from Louisiana State University (LSU), Vicknair served as Student Intern for the DDD and participated in a semester long internship with Civitas Urban Design and Planning in Denver, Colorado where he studied the redevelopment of the South Platte River corridor and worked on various large scale projects such as the San Diego Embarcadero and the San Jose International Airport. Vicknair also holds over ten years of professional experience in landscape construction.
While serving as Special Events and Marketing Coordinator for the DDD, Vicknair designed and produced an Event Procedures and Guidelines manual for the downtown area, and resurrected the downtown Phantom Galleries program that transforms vacant storefronts into temporary art galleries. After construction of North Boulevard Town Square, Vicknair will oversee the programming and coordination of North Boulevard Town Square and the Galvez Plaza Event Stage.
In addition to his work at the DDD, Vicknair is also a freelance designer specializing in contemporary residential landscape design. Vicknair, an Ascension Parish native, is an avid whitewater kayaker and musician in his spare time.
Caleb Heine
Special Events & Marketing Coordinator
As the Special Events & Marketing Coordinator for the Downtown Development District, Caleb Heine serves as a liaison between the DDD, the Arts & Entertainment District and the general public, with a primary focus of being a point of contact and resource of information to individuals and organizations that wish to produce special events downtown. He is responsible for marketing downtown activities and initiatives, as well as, maintaining/cultivating relationships with community stakeholders.
Heine’s roles at the DDD include designing and producing marketing collateral for the DDD office, as well as coordinating the DDD’s online presence through weekly event emails, maintenance of the DDD website, and social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter.
Heine served for three semesters as Student Intern for the DDD while earning a degree in Landscape Architecture from Louisiana State University (LSU). While in school, he also successfully completed internships with LJA Engineering and Surveying in Houston, and Ecoland International, a Chinese international landscape architecture firm. He brings a wide range of experience to the position, and as a Baton Rouge native he has a passion for the success of his home town.
After construction, beginning in 2012, Heine will be responsible for the programming of North Boulevard Town Square and the Galvez Plaza Event Stage. He is currently assisting in the development of usage guidelines and communicating with local organizations and artist that will potentially use the spaces to ensure that the spaces are activated on a daily basis.
Heine is also responsible for the management of a new downtown initiative called Downtown Fit-For-All, which will provide ‘fit-stations’ along the Downtown Greenway and Levee Bike Path. Heine wrote and prepared a grant requesting funding from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana Impact Grant Program to purchase outdoor exercise equipment.
Heine is a true Louisiana sportsman and exercise enthusiast, spending the majority of his free time hunting, fishing or exercising.
Administrative Specialist II
As Administrative Specialist II for the Downtown Development District, Mary Olinde has performed administrative and office support activities for the Executive Director and Assistant Executive Director of the DDD since 1987, helping to ensure that the DDD office operates efficiently while presenting a positive and helpful public image.
Mrs. Olinde’s assistance includes but is certainly not limited to the transcription of DDD Commission Meeting minutes, scheduling, payment processing, and assisting the general public. She has been consistently recognized throughout the years by the City of Baton Rouge as an employee of excellence.
Mrs. Olinde, a Baton Rouge native, is married to Mr. Randy Olinde and they have two sons, one granddaughter and one grandson.
