Student Union Construction.

[MelRock]

I forgot about that garage. I use to live down the road from it on St Louis, but that was 25+ years ago. Thanks for all of the updates.

[Boomer]

So how does this logically work for us??? I saw where Tulane was building an athletic Village--pipe dreams maybe---but when I think Village I think Olympic Village for all the athletes---could we do something like this between the Blackham area and the sorority houses??? Think that it could be a huge recruiting tool with the location between the academic campus, Bourgoise Hall area, and the Athletic campus---It would house all the athletes with a mens and ladies areas---This concept was originally to have been built by the stadium in the late 70s--Toby Warren even had the design drawn up for it-----it could have all the athletes from all sports---a study area---Tutors, trainers, equipment managers---an eating area with coffee shop, cafeteria, and possibly with a grill area---Well I will leave the rest to the study groups and archs and Engins!!!!

[MelRock]

I do not think that athletes can be separate from the rest of the student body. I.E. its own dinning hall or dorms. If you remember correctly the Conference Center on campus was an athletic dorm for a while before the NCAA ruled that you can have separate facilities. I think this is correct, but I could be wrong. I know I have been wrong before.

[Boomer]

Mel you are correct---in one of its worst ever moves the NCAA got rid of the athletic dorm concept and I think it is still in effect----But with a little fudging I think it could be done ---title 9ers would love it also as there would be a salon for nails, hair, etc.---wow maybe even a beer pub---well maybe not!!! lol just thinking about recruiting!!!

[CajunRebel]

MelRock you are pretty close however the tracts are all convoluted and not as straight forward. It is a result of them buying tracts of land over time. It will take me some time to get a map together that I can post. I hope to get it done by tonight.

I made a mistake on the location of the satellite parking garage. It is located on St. Louis Street not St. Patrick like I said before. It is on a 1.0 Acre tract of land across St. Landry adjacent to the branch of the Coulee Mine. It is just off of the photo above to the north near the bend on the Coulee Mine.

HelmutVII I pulled this from the UL master plan. I'm assuming most of the areas in yellow are the areas currently owned by Lourdes but that's just a guess. Hopefully my guess is correct and I can save you the trouble of having to gather and illustrate all that info.

[CajunEXPRESS]

I do not think that athletes can be separate from the rest of the student body. I.E. its own dinning hall or dorms. If you remember correctly the Conference Center on campus was an athletic dorm for a while before the NCAA ruled that you can have separate facilities. I think this is correct, but I could be wrong. I know I have been wrong before.

You are correct, BUT if you integrate the athletes with a similar number of standard students they could in fact have this type thing. In my world we would recruit three hundred of the highest GPA, SAT AND still cool students in the state from all 64 parishes. We put them into the athletic, high academic luxury housing, problem solved. Two valued assets for the price of one.

[awadelewis]

We put them into the athletic, high academic luxury housing, problem solved. Two valued assets for the price of one.

This is how Auburn just got around the NCAA's restriction on athletic dorms. I suspect you'll find something similar at most of the other schools in the BCS conferences.

[Boomer]

I forgot I think to add the Ragin' Jazz, cheerleaders, Louisiana flag wavers, etc!!!

[Ragin' Realtor]

I have check the assessors records and I estimate the total acreage owned or controlled by "Lourdes" is about 18.11 acres. This includes the property that the old hospital is on and the large vacant areas heading to St. Julien. The 18.11 acres includes the satellite parking garage on St. Patrick Street. Lourdes DOES NOT OWN any property fronting St. Mary Street. Once the hospital is demolished the only thing standing (to my understanding) on the Lourdes property will be the two parking towers.

18.11 acres is 788,871 square feet. Placing a square foot value on the raw land is not what I do so I don't know. Maybe a real estate pro on this board can take a guess. I would GUESS that the value of the two parking towers would be between 3.5 to 4.0 million. 788,871 square feet at $x.xx per square foot plus 3.5 or 4.0 million would be the value of the property. The only question would be what is the property "worth" to a potential buyer and if the owner is willing to sell at that price.

I don't have the time right now but I will draw up a map and post it later.

See below for a break down of the property lines for the entire Lourdes Park. The properties on Saint Mary are owned by the Diocese. The portion where the Hospital is and the land on Saint Julien is owned by the Hospital. There is another portion in the middle that is owned by the Holy Sacrament Convent. I've asked around and there isn't a lot of information I could gather from people who are in the know, other than the University isn't the only potential buyer that is seriously interested in the property. It's a developers dream. 15 + acres of usable acreage in the center of the city, close to a University with 17000+ students just doesn't come available very often, if ever. This is a once in a life time opportunity. And once the main hospital buildings come down, it's much easier to market, as it can be subdivided up, not to mention raw land is a lot cheaper to maintain than a run down vacant hospital.

Like I said, I hope the acquisition of this property priority #1 on UL's list right now. I would put it ahead to the football stadium renovation, as that property is the corridor that can connect the UL main campus to their property at Blackham.

[HelmutVII]

I have drawn a map on an aerial photo showing who owns what. I need to convert from AutoCAD to an image file. I will be able to do that tomorrow.


Meanwhile back to the Student Union.

The food service wing is getting its skin. As seen from the step of Buchanan Hall



The food service wing as seen from the Harris Hall fire escape.



The main portion of the building as seen from the top of Olivier Parking Tower.




The recently placed last piece of steel. (the one with "Student Union" written on it)



A view from the rear of Our Lady of Wisdom Chapel



A view of the food service wing as seen from Guillory Hall balcony.

[HelmutVII]

This is a map of who owns what around the old Lourdes Hospital site. The have started to demolish the hospital within the last two weeks. The only building left on the Lourdes site will be the parking garage near St. Mary. That building sets on property owned by Lourdes and the Diocese of Lafayette. There are two large office buildings, one large parking garage, one building that is the remains of the old orphanage, the building used for imaging and a smaller building between the two parking garages. If the University is interested in this property we are talking about some serious money and that's only if the Diocese is willing to sell. The tract identified as "Affiliated Blind" used to be a Monastery and was repurposed. I'm thinking it is still controlled by the Diocese in some way. the satellite parking garage is adjacent to what was the Day Care facility the Lourdes had for the employees.

Like I said the property configuration is convoluted and as a result it is not as straight forward as you may think.

[SlappyCajun]

Bottom line is that as several poster recently pointed out the property will likely be in high demand. The university, unlike a traditional developer, has to adhere to a lot more formalities. If the school is going to grow, obtaining the land is a priority.

The one thing we haven't talked about would be a public/private partnership between a developer and the University. Perhaps a developer may purchase the land and lease it back to the university.