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SchoolMint will move into a temporary space in downtown Lafayette and could soon land a permanent home possibly later this month.
Company CEO Bryan MacDonald said the company will move into the first floor of the Lemoine building, 214 Jefferson St., and hopes to have employees working there on Feb. 1.
Employees are currently working remotely and have since moved out of the former Daily Advertiser building, which was sold to an owner who will lease it to Ochsner Lafayette General.
SchoolMint, the educational software company that moved to Lafayette from the San Francisco area in 2020, had been looking for a permanent home since its arrival and wanted to be downtown, MacDonald said.
“We want to be downtown and are big believers in downtown,” he said. “We looked at a number of options. We actually looked at the Dat Dog building. We looked at the Rock ‘n’ Bowl Building. When the pandemic got really gnarly and we weren’t sure about what our space needs were, we sort of tapped the brakes for a while.”
The 14,000-square-foot space is in the bottom floor of what was the old federal bankruptcy court building and will house 70 employees with plans to get to 110, MacDonald said. Many features of the courtroom remain after it closed years ago, including the judge’s bench and the witness box.
The company is also hoping to close on the purchase of a permanent home later this month, MacDonald said. It has a short list of final locations and is looking for a space similar in size downtown.
“We really want to find a space that fits us and fits our needs that we can really personalize and turn into a great headquarters,” he said. “The second thing is the opportunity to expand even further if necessary with another floor or another building.”
The news is the latest development downtown and the second significant employer to the area after CGI moved into the Versailles building, 102 Versailles Blvd. A group also recently bought the Dat Dog building at 201 Jefferson St. with plans to house a restaurant and lounge on the bottom floor with office spaces upstairs.
Read the rest of Adam Daigle’s article for The Acadiana Advocate
Downtown is the place where Acadiana comes to celebrate culture AND do business! Here at Downtown Lafayette Unlimited our goal is to help orchestrate these celebrations. Not only are we celebrating our community this fall with events such as Downtown Alive! and ArtWalk but over the past month, we have celebrated new ownership of beloved historic buildings as well as 10-year business milestones and more!
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Drainage construction will begin in downtown Lafayette at the intersection of Jefferson Street and Lee Avenue in front of the old city hall building, according to a spokesperson Lafayette Consolidated Government’s (LCG) Public Works Department.
Read Clair Taylor’s article for The Acadiana Advocate here.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricanes Laura and Delta impacted the construction, the developers behind the old federal courthouse redevelopment in Downtown Lafayette knew the project would take a lot of work. J. Dyke Nelson, the architect behind the project, said he had to wear a hazmat suit the first time he came out and saw the property.
Perficient, a digital consulting firm with an office in downtown Lafayette, hired 50 graduates from its training bootcamp held last fall.The second Bright Paths Program, an initiative designed to advance STEM education and career opportunities for underrepresented constituencies and communities, was offered at its Lafayette and Detroit locations. Students completed software engineering coursework, learned about the consulting business, connected with mentors, and engineered their own innovative applications, company officials announced Thursday.
Tim Skinner has been a business owner in Downtown Lafayette for almost 30 years. While he has made an investment in the area, Skinner said he is thrilled to see other taking a vested interest as well. “This is the first big project that we see coming that will enhance east of Main,” Skinner said. “When the streets are improved and sidewalks are improved, the more accessible they are it’ll encourage people to invest money in new properties and renovating older properties. ”
The Downtown Development Authority is proposing construction of a performing arts center in downtown Lafayette to replace the 61-year-old Heymann Performing Arts Center, which landlocked Ochsner Lafayette General wants to buy. Referring to the idea as “the type of investment that tips the scale,” DDA CEO Anita Begnaud introduced the proposal at the board’s monthly meeting Thursday morning.
Parc San Souci has been the go-to place for people living in Lafayette for nearly twenty years. It has served as a place to host events, play and listen to live music, as well as take an iconic photo, but the Downtown Development Authority believes that it’s missing something.
In the blistering summers of Acadia Parish, Meg Arceneaux would watch her grandfather sit in his truck and go about business telling others what to do. She was fascinated with how he operated his work, hoping to one day own her own business.