Acadiana Business 2022: TopGolf, Dave & Busters make a splash, as does downtown housing | Business

Here’s a funny thing about trying to nail down the top business headlines for 2022: This year’s top story could also be the top story of 2023.

The proposed development for the vacant lot near Costco — so far slated to be home to popular national chains TopGolf and Dave & Busters — is the top business story of the year in the Acadiana Advocate’s second phase of Ambassador Town Center. However, the two businesses are only part of the plan, which includes a hotel, restaurants and a 330-unit high-end apartment complex.

Potentially producing around 50 acres in terms of interest and retail sales, it’s safe to say the development will be one of the largest commercial developments in Lafayette in recent years.

Topgolf could grow to be the development’s crown jewel. The global brand, which posted 24 percent year-over-year revenue growth in the third quarter, is growing strongly with eight locations expected to open in the US and UK this year. It wants to build 13-15 locations per year in the next three to four years, reports said.

The Lafayette location will be unique as it is located away from the main highway. Like Baton Rouge, 10 most places near the interstate are on freeways.

Both companies have not yet purchased the property in that area, but negotiations are ongoing, sources said. Dave & Buster’s officials have increased the acreage they originally requested at the site on Meadow Farm Drive.

Topgolf’s construction partner, Arco/Murray National Construction Corp., went before the city’s Planning Commission last month for the plat.

Other businesses in that area include a 335-unit high-end apartment complex, Little Sliders Restaurant, Jet Coffee, Jersey Mike’s Subs, Kasai Steakhouse and Sushi, a four-story hotel and a Discount Wheel. Negotiations are underway for two other properties, including three restaurants and a bank.

Expect construction on many of the projects to begin early next year. About TopGolf and Dave & Busters, we’ll know more at the end of the first quarter.

Other major stories of 2022 include:

2. The municipality will open the city center. Billed as the biggest downtown residential project in years, the 68-unit complex in the old federal courthouse opened in April, the culmination of a long road to bring the building back to business after two decades of sitting vacant.

Once the downtown elevator station was built by LPTFA and historic tax credits were used to move the project along, that changed the game. Developer EJ Krampe and others opened the renovated building in April to show that housing can work downtown. Others are coming, including the Lafayette Public Financing Trust’s four-story, 70-unit complex.

3. The LHC Group has reached an agreement to sell. One of Lafayette’s largest private employers and an aggressively growing national company, LHC Group reached an agreement to be bought by UnitedHealth in April for $5.4 billion. The move was a strategic move for UH, which puts health care in its arsenal. And all signs point to the deal being a boost of money and energy to the LHC, which employs 700 people in Lafayette and 30,000 in 37 states. The deal’s deadline has been extended to the first quarter of 2023 by federal review.

4. The average sale price of a home for three months is over $300,000. Home sales averaged over $300,000 for three months as inventory dwindled and interest rates continued to rise. By the middle of the year, prices had risen, with every zip code seeing an average sales price increase of at least 20 percent. In the area west of Duson South, the average price nearly doubled. In the Morris area, the median sales price jumped from $199,900 to $395,000 in 2018. By 2023, prices are expected to gradually retreat.

5. A new airport terminal opens in Lafayette. It has all the bells and whistles of a modern airport: 120 square feet, spacious concourses, two TSA security screening lanes with a third class and an additional 199 parking spaces. Local and state officials celebrated the terminal’s opening in January. In this regard, the best part is that the terminal was opened without any debt related to the construction, officials said.

My most memorable stories of 2022

Remembering the Daiquiri Factory: I should have taken it as a sign when Daiquiri Factory founder David Ervin, who I interviewed for this story, arrived 20 minutes early.

Ervin was the man who opened what is said to be the nation’s first drive-thru daiquiri shop, a concept that is now available in Louisiana. This year marked the 40th year since city leaders in Lafayette passed an open container ordinance on Johnston Street and tried to shut down the operation.

Thanks to a suggestion from his mother, who was with him at the time – just put a piece of tape on the lid – the frozen daiquiri was considered a sealed container, the judge ruled, thus allowing it to explode for sale.

The north Louisiana native discovered Lafayette’s party spot while working off the coast — he stopped by several times on his way home but never left — and caught lightning in a bottle. He went from making $400 a week working offshore to selling frozen daiquiris at a window for $400 an hour.

Ervin is currently writing a memoir — titled “The Frozen Solution” — that’s slated for release next month.

mo Who is Ravi Dagula and why is the group evicting his properties? Dagula and a group of investors started the year by closing a deal to buy the old Dat Dog building, and then continued their acquisition of the property. Other Downtown Lafayette properties. A small shopping center. And they started working on the old Travel Motel.

Why buy? Simply put, Dagula says he wants to return home to India one day. But in the meantime, Lafayette — especially downtown and the inner city — wants to do what it can to improve before it’s gone.

“I want to do as much as I can in the next five years,” he said.

This shrinking Acadiana grocery store will close after 99 years: Chas Cannatella & Sons Store prides itself on Muffaletta and offers everything the people of Melville and the surrounding area need. The store, which opened in 1923, carried everything from produce and breakfast cereals to cat food, soccer balls and keys.

But the store closed over the summer, leaving the struggling city of Melville and the northeast St. Landry Parish area without a full-service grocery store. Rising gasoline prices have forced residents to drive to Krotz Springs or Opelousas for groceries.

There is no gas station in Melville. And now, with more than half of the 700-plus residents living below the poverty line, the barriers are challenging.

Grant Cannatella and his wife, Pam, opened a small Baton Rouge store to offset the loss of the Melville store. But the loss became too much to overcome.

“The old customers are not here anymore,” he said. “We buried them in the last 20-30 years.”

The most read Acadiana business stories on theadvocate.com

1. DR Horton, target of homeowner lawsuit, built more than 1,700 homes in Lafayette Parish; Here it is (March 14)

2. You may have Tony Chachere’s spice at home, but do you know the story? (March 9)

3. Grocery inflation now at 15%; These 15 items had the biggest price increase (July 13).

4. From Owens Field to Rice Shelf, Parish Rice is Growing High Protein, Rice for Diabetics (January 16)

5. The new caviar? Louisiana crab $50 per pound for restaurants, $70 for groceries (Jan. 22)

6. Chick-fil-A buys five acres for fourth location in Lafayette; It opens here (November 15).

7. Dave & Busters in talks to open in Lafayette; Here’s Where You Land (June 6)

8. Offshore Drilling Company 135, whose Lafayette office is raided by federal investigators (October 28), goes out of business.

9. To be Cajun Palms Margaritaville RV Resort; It’s ‘A Little Louisiana Paradise’ (December 6)

10. How Louisiana’s First Drive-thru Daiquiri Stand Won Lafayette City Hall and Made History (August 13)

Quotes of the year

“If you see $100,000 in cash in one, five, 10 and 20’s all sitting on the bed, it’s going to blow your mind.” – Daiquiri Factory founder David Ervin how much the business earns in a week.

It’s a big company with deep pockets that allows you to make a lot of purchases. It’s like having a rich aunt.” – Peter Ricciuti, professor of finance at Tulane University, on LHC Group’s buyout at UnitedHealth

“This was unbelievable and unsustainable.” – Real estate analyst Bill Buckey says the average summer home sale price has risen 13 percent over the past 12 months.

“I’m telling you the truth — in the next five years, certainly by the next census, it’s going to double in size.” — Scott Mayor Jan-Scott Richard on the West Village development being built in the city.

“Ravi was—if you want to put anything on paper—he’s been an angel to me. I’m still in awe. I usually help people. I make phone calls, and things happen. I never call myself. All of a sudden I don’t have to call myself and this guy Ravi wants to meet me and help me? It just blew my mind.” – Vera Nagy, a downtown Opelousas commercial property owner, after meeting Ravi Daggula.