<p>State, IBM finalizing deal to bring development center to B.R.</p><p>Published Mar 21, 2013 at 3:00 pm (Updated Mar 21, 2013)</p><p>Daily Report confirms the state is in the 11th hour of finalizing a deal that will bring an IBM development center to downtown Baton Rouge. The agreement, expected to be announced next week, comes after more than a year of negotiating a package with the blue chip computer company that includes incentives, promises of a trained workforce, and a new office building with adjacent shops, condos and parking overlooking the Mississippi River.</p><p>Sources say the deal will mean at least 800 jobs for the Capital Region, and involve a tie-in with LSU that will result in the expansion of programs at the universityparticularly in computer science. The deal will also include the Baton Rouge Area Foundation's for-profit real estate company, Commercial Properties, which will develop for IBM an office building and adjacent mixed-use development on the Lafayette Street site that formerly housed The Advocate. The state, sources say, will not be funding the non-office portion of the real estate development. Attempts to reach LED's Stephen Moret for comment were unsuccessful.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessreport.com/article/20130321/BUSINESSREPORT0112/130329921">Keep reading...</a></p>