Urban Revitalization

The towns and cities of Acadiana are among the most important assets that define our region’s identity and fuel its economic opportunity. Blessed with communities both large and small, Acadiana offers a rich spectrum of settings to live and work. 1A understands the primary importance of these essential places and works with private investors, businesses, elected officials, and public agencies to implement successful strategies and new policies for urban revitalization and catalyze new development activity.

Urban Revitalization and Development Committee

The Urban Revitalization and Development Committee is an assembly of strategic thinkers that share a keen interest in Urban Environments, who assess the challenges and opportunities for sustaining vibrant communities across Acadiana, and recommend new strategies with the necessary tools to implement improvement.  The URD Committee plays a critical role in advising the 1A Board of Directors on all things urban, and provides critical connective tissue throughout the region that supports partnerships for urban development at all scales.

Incentives with Intent

Urban redevelopment policy has created an array of incentives to stimulate new investment in languishing urban districts. Whether its tax abatement, tax credits, or tax increment financing; PILOTs, public infrastructure contributions, or performance zoning; redevelopment bonuses or regulatory relief, the toolkit is rich with options.

Essential to successful redevelopment is the judicious use of these tools for targeted outcomes rather than a generic approach to generic growth. 1A is engaged in the analysis and recommendation of local incentive policies that will spur new infill development in Lafayette’s urban core.

View How We Compete Report

Connected by Culture

Acadiana is home to a rich collection of communities – from historic Parish seats like Abbeville and New Iberia to traditional communities like Arnaudville, Crowley, Abbeville, and Franklin where the roots of regional identity grow deep. Together they comprise one of the most distinct cultural settings in America that has sustained its authenticity despite the national forces of homogenization. These are the places where the joie de vivre of Cajun Louisiana is a daily experience – part and parcel of the way folks live around here.

Nurturing these places as they experience economic change goes hand in hand with sustaining the very qualities of our region that make it unlike any place else in America. Through regional collaboration and sharing of technical expertise, 1A plays an important role in forging common purpose and effective approaches for all Acadiana communities.

Lafayette - The Hub City

Lafayette occupies a unique place in Acadiana. It is the largest urbanized area and serves as a primary economic generator of the region. Endowed with exceptional assets like University of Louisiana at Lafayette, South Louisiana Community College, LUS Fiber – one of the few municipal high-speed fiber utilities in the country, and an array of medical institutions, Lafayette serves as our preeminent urban setting. 1A dedicates significant time and resources to advancing the urban agenda in Lafayette, working closely with public sector partners at Lafayette Consolidated Government, the Downtown Development Authority, LEDA, and LPTFA who share a common vision of the city’s future.

The I-49 Lafayette Connector and the Future of the Urban Core

Urban highways are challenging, yet critical, pieces of the necessary infrastructure that sustains urban and regional economies. They exist in some tension with urban settings - too often they have been designed with a single-minded focus on their transportation functions while ignoring their primary effect in shaping the urban environment. However, we recognize that thriving communities need both excellent transportation facilities and vibrant inner cities to be successful. The investment in transportation infrastructure must also lay the foundation for urban success, creating a positive relationship between road and city that attracts, rather than repels, new investment.

View LCG's Buchanan RFP

Opportunity Zone Investment

The Opportunity Zone program was established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to spur long-term private sector investments in low-income urban and rural communities. The program offers federal capital gains tax benefits to investors who re-invest their capital gains into Qualified Opportunity Funds. Investors with capital gains can transfer those into an Opportunity Fund within 180 days to take advantage of the tax benefits.