On the Fridays before LSU home games, the road crews on Nicholson Drive quit early. On the Saturdays themselves, they don't work at all. The city has a word for that kind of Saturday, and its construction schedule bends around it. Meanwhile, most of the new businesses that opened near campus between July and September are built around the other six days of the week. There's a bar that wants to be a break from Tigerland, a biscuit counter on W. Lee Drive, a children's play cafe, an infrared yoga studio and an ice cream shop with a new home. The only new arrival aimed squarely at game day is a sports apparel store, and the lease announcement for it gave no opening date.
The Road Crews Already Work Around Saturday
MOVEBR's Nicholson Drive Segment 1 project will widen Nicholson to four lanes between Brightside Lane and Gourrier Road. Crews began clearing and grubbing in February 2026, and that phase is expected to finish in October 2026. Utility relocation comes next, followed by the roadway itself. The northbound sidewalk along the railroad is closed to pedestrians and is expected to reopen after October 23. Next, work moves to the southbound side of Brightside and Nicholson, where crews will remove trees, fencing and light poles and pour concrete. That sidewalk will close on and off while the work goes on.
The Plank–Nicholson bus rapid transit line is also still under construction, with bus stations going up along the route and no overall completion date posted. On Lee Drive, the improvement project between Highland Road and Perkins Road is still acquiring right-of-way. That step is expected to run through Q3 2027, and the construction contract is expected to be advertised in 2029. For now, Lee Drive looks much as it always has, and the newer storefronts along it are where things have changed.
A Bar That Wants to Be a Break From Tigerland
Green Rabbit Tavern first opened in 2024 at 4612 Bennington Ave. It closed about a year later after the building was sold. Owner Billy Scott then set a reopening at 5201 Nicholson Drive for a Thursday evening in early September. The new space is 1,600 square feet in a strip mall next to Wahada Restaurant. It was formerly Alexa's Dulceria & Market, and Scott built the rustic beams and bar himself. The bar has darts, pool and cocktails and is open to anyone 21 or older.
Scott told The Advocate who he had in mind.
"It doesn't matter if you're a 50-year-old biker or a 23-year-old law student. You want to be able to walk in and feel comfortable and not feel like, 'I don't belong here.'"
He also said he'd like to give "a respite from the insanity of Tigerland," the student bar strip just down the street. The tavern's website now lists it at 5201 Nicholson Dr., Suite F, and calls it Baton Rouge's newest neighborhood bar. According to The Advocate's opening coverage, it's open 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 6 p.m. to midnight on Sunday. Hours at a new bar can change, so check before you go.
W. Lee Drive Is Adding Breakfast, Lunch and a Place for Kids
Green Rabbit set itself up as an alternative to Tigerland. The newer spots on Lee Drive and W. Lee Drive are about the hours a game doesn't touch. On Tuesday, September 22, Parish Biscuit Co. opened its second location at 220 W. Lee Drive. The Lafayette-born breakfast and lunch spot shares a strip with Surge Entertainment and Our Mom's Restaurant & Bar. Owner Steven Laborde said the menu matches the Lafayette original, which opened in 2023. That means duck empanadas, shrimp and grits, burgers, French toast sticks, pancakes and beignets, with patio seating outside.
A few blocks along, Tasty Grill opened on August 5 at 990 W. Lee Drive as a counter serving burgers, wings and sandwiches. Little Lennon Play Cafe moved into the former Cup of Joy space at 324 Lee Drive after it came open in spring 2026. The business pairs an indoor play space for children with a cafe, and in July it was in a soft opening, open on weekdays.
| Business | Address | Opened | What it serves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parish Biscuit Co. | 220 W. Lee Drive | Sept. 22, 2026 | Breakfast and lunch, biscuits, beignets |
| Tasty Grill | 990 W. Lee Drive, Studio D | Aug. 5, 2026 | Burgers, wings, sandwiches |
| Little Lennon Play Cafe | 324 Lee Drive, Suites C and D | July 2026, soft opening | Indoor kids' play space with a cafe |
| Green Rabbit Tavern | 5201 Nicholson Drive, Suite F | Early Sept. 2026 | Darts, pool, cocktails; 21 and up |
| LIVIN Studio | 3636 Nicholson Drive | Sept. 2026 | Infrared hot yoga, sculpt, strength |
None of these depends on the football calendar. A biscuit lunch on a Wednesday, an hour of indoor play on a weekday morning and a burger counter on W. Lee all do business on days when Tiger Stadium is empty.
Across From the Stadium, a Studio Heated to 105 Degrees
The newest business directly facing Tiger Stadium is a fitness studio. Layla Kiffin opened LIVIN Studio at 3636 Nicholson Drive. It offers three class types, sculpt, flow and strength, all taught in an infrared-heated room kept at about 105 degrees and 30 percent humidity. The studio also has three red light pods, which aren't heated and are meant for recovery. Kiffin told 225 Magazine that for athletes in recovery, 30 minutes a day in the pods can make a difference. The name comes from an inside joke that started while the family lived in California. Kiffin said it now stands for being healthy, being happy and making the best of a situation.
A membership studio depends on regulars coming back week after week. Its location across from the stadium puts it in sight of game day, but its classes follow the weekly routine.
The Dairy Store Has a New Home on Tower Drive
The LSU Dairy Store left its two-year temporary location at 118 S. Campus Drive and held a grand opening on September 8, just after fall classes began. It's now inside the Our Lady of the Lake Health Interdisciplinary Science Building at 410 Tower Drive, a four-story building it shares with PJ's Coffee and Shaquille O'Neal's Big Chicken. The store opened under its current name in 1972, but the university has been selling ice cream since 1905, when it was the LSU Creamery.
The ice cream starts with milk from the LSU AgCenter's dairy farm in Franklinton. Store manager Chuck Boeneke said a typical 200-gallon batch of mix yields roughly 350 gallons of ice cream. The store rotates 60 to 70 flavors through 16 spots in the case. Rum raisin is a popular fall flavor, and eggnog shows up around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Tigerbite, the LSU-themed scoop, is blueberries with rich golden vanilla. A rotating seasonal case keeps changing whether or not there's a game that week.
The Game-Day Arrival Is Still a Lease
Rally House, the sports apparel and merchandise retailer, has signed a lease for about 3,800 square feet in the Matherne's-anchored development across from Tiger Stadium. It will combine two suites next to Starbucks, according to Ben Graham of Stirling, who represented the landlord. That development is LSU's Nicholson Gateway, on Nicholson Drive between West Chimes Street and Skip Bertman Drive. Gateway opened in August 2018 with 1,525 student beds and 50,000 square feet of retail.
Baton Rouge Business Report's September 21 story announced the lease but gave no opening date. As the home schedule enters October, the new business built most clearly around game day is known only by its lease announcement.
The Saturdays Left, and the Weeks Between Them
Here is how the rest of LSU's regular season lines up against the work on Nicholson.
- Saturday, Oct. 3: McNeese at Tiger Stadium, kickoff 6:45 p.m. Under MOVEBR's schedule, Nicholson crews finish early the Friday before and don't work that Saturday.
- Saturday, Oct. 10: LSU plays at Kentucky, 6 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 17: Mississippi State at Tiger Stadium, kickoff time TBA.
- After Oct. 23: The northbound sidewalk along the railroad on Nicholson is expected to reopen.
- Saturday, Oct. 24: LSU plays at Auburn, 11 a.m.
- Saturday, Nov. 7: Alabama at Tiger Stadium, kickoff time TBA.
- Saturday, Nov. 14: Texas at Tiger Stadium, kickoff time TBA.
That leaves four home Saturdays between now and mid-November. Every other day on that calendar belongs to the bar, the biscuit counter, the play cafe, the studio and the ice cream case. Eggnog should show up at 410 Tower Drive somewhere between the Texas game and Christmas.
The businesses opening near campus this fall say a lot about how the area works from week to week, and that's useful to know whether you own near Nicholson or W. Lee or are watching values in the LSU area from a distance. If you want to know what your home is worth as these corridors change, Joseph S. Pappalardo Jr. and the Wurth team offer a free home valuation built on what's actually happening on your street.
