Still reeling from gross mismanagement at its Abbeville treatment facility and loss of outside funding sources, Acadiana Outreach Center is looking for a lifeline for Joie de Vivre, a $16.5 million mixed-use, affordable housing development near downtown.
“Because of the dire straits our prior management left us in, we’ve reached the end of the road,” says AOC board member Bo Billeaud. At a 1 p.m. meeting today, Billeaud will make a brief presentation to the board of the Lafayette Public Trust Financing Authority, requesting that it acquire AOC's interest and other assets in the vicinity of the project. The meeting will be held at Lafayette Consolidated Government's building at 705 W. University Ave. on the second floor.
Joie de Vivre is being partially funded by federal low-income housing tax credits that will be sold to private investors. Those tax credit investors, who would own 99.99 percent interest in the project with AOC owning .01 percent, have requested additional backers or a new sponsor because of AOC’s problems. In the absence of that, it will require AOC to post a half million dollar performance bond, Billeaud says, which is not an option.
LPTFA already has an interest in Joie de Vivre, as it loaned the project $1 million. One potential attraction for LPTFA, a public trust organized under the laws of the state and established for the benefit of the city of Lafayette, is a $1.9 million development fee, which it would share with the project consultant, presumably its former board member Greg Gachassin.
LPTFA is nearing completion on a similar project it spearheaded, the $10 million Cypress Trails apartment complex in north Lafayette.
Joie de Vivre, located in the Mills Addition near downtown, was supposed to break ground in September and be finished next year. Though most residents in the area have spoken out publicly in favor of the project, it has met significant resistance from some neighbors.
Without LPTFA's help, the project may be dead, Billeaud says. "Unless we have a guardian angel come in."
MAY 22 This post was written the day after the second line shooting in NOLA, by Brentin Mock. Mock is a friend of Deb "Big Red" Cotton, a blogger who was shot in the back and was seriously injured. It is a raw, emotional piece of writing, something the writer obviously felt he needed to get off his chest. But it raises questions that can't be easily dismissed, and might give some insight into where the source of these events truly is.
MAY 22 In this Baton Rouge Business Report post, Rolfe McCollister considers the privatization of bus service in Baton Rouge. After decades of under-funding, it is a mess, and although a tax (partially) passed last year, improvement hasn't happened yet. McCollister apparently feels it is time to let private business get in on the transit business.
MAY 22 This post on Bayou Buzz by Jeff Crouere urges the defeat of a bill that would grant modest pay increases over the next several years to the state's judges and clerks of court. The state is in no position to fund pay hikes, Crouere argues, with the pay increases costing a total of $9 million over several years. It sends the wrong message to the (proverbial) hard-working people of Louisiana, he says.
MAY 22 The Advocate reports here that State Treasurer John Kennedy is complaining about a meeting of the corporation that oversees the state's tobacco settlement. The Governor wanted it restructured, and he has some support, but not a lot. The corporation agreed with his plan, but Kennedy didn't, and it appears that the meeting was noticed in a manner completely different than that of all previous meetings. Kennedy's given to hyperbole, but in this case the fish don't smell too fresh.
MAY 22 In this Advocate story, Carencro Police Chief Carlos Stout says the recent federal indictment of a strip club owner is all wrong. The indictment alleges that drugs and prostitution went on with impunity because club staff made arrangements with "local" police. Stout says it never happened, and while his cops do work security in the parking lot, they're not allowed inside.
MAY 22 This amusing post in DIG Baton Rouge recounts an ad that ran on Craig's List recently; the advertiser was seeking tenants for a Beauregard Town house. He knew his market, and wrote an ad that the most ironical hipster couldn't resist. Apparently, he really did know his market, because the ad worked like a charm.
MAY 22 In this post in The Lens, Mark Moseley comments on the rhetoric Gov. Jindal employed in trying to save his tax "reform" package. One interesting point concerns Jindal's use of his brother, Nikesh, in a little story. Nikesh left Louisiana because of his inability to get a decent job, the story goes, but the story won't hold water: Nikesh lives in DC, which has an income tax level comparable to Louisiana, Moseley says. If income taxes caused the dismal situation, it should exist in DC too. Right?
MAY 22 This post by columnist John Maginnis traces the trajectory of the bill that would fund construction at community and technical colleges -- and bypass the Board of Regents and traditional higher ed funding mechanisms. Sure, it will bust the legislature's self-imposed debt limit, but some leges feel that there's more need (because there is more growth) in the community and technical college area than in the university area, he says.
Most Read
in case you missed it
Subscribe to this comment's feed
I think this is so bad that I suspect there may be a crime here....hmmmmm