A Breaux Bridge businessman is planning a significant upgrade to the Northgate Mall after buying the property last week for $2.8 million.
Jacoby Landry bought Lafayette’s oldest shopping mall in a credit sale deal that closed Friday, land records show. The 20.8-acre site had been on the market for months.
Landry says he wants to convert the mall to a dynamic mixed-use business center that will include small retailers and professional service providers and be anchored by a boutique medical spa, fitness center and indoor pickleball courts, the Lafayette Economic Development Authority announced late Monday.
The building will not be demolished.
“This has been a vision of mine for a long time,” Landry said. “I grew up seeing what the Northgate Mall meant to this area. Now I see what it can be — an energizing hub where small businesses thrive, people gather and north Lafayette shines again.”
Looking back: Northgate Mall began 60 years ago with 3 men, $4K and lots of retailer interest.
Landry took on the project after working with national redevelopment experts LEDA brought in through its Elevate North Lafayette Program.
The initiative provides coaching, mentorship and networking opportunities to local developers and aspiring entrepreneurs focused on reinvestment in historically underdeveloped areas, infill development and creative adaptive reuse.
Landry will finalize redevelopment plans in the coming months. Initial work will focus on stabilizing the structure and retaining existing tenants, with phased renovations and tenant buildouts to follow.
The multi-year redevelopment effort will be supported by LEDA — serving as the parish’s redevelopment authority — through project coordination, navigation of public resources and strategic guidance.
The Lafayette Public Trust Financing Authority, which serves as administrator of the Northway Economic Development District, will also contribute to the redevelopment.
“I’ve known and watched Jacoby’s work as a seasoned construction company leader, and it has been an honor to have him participate in our Elevate North Lafayette program,” said Mandi Mitchell, president and CEO of LEDA. “He is encouraging the next generation of local developers and leading by example.”
The sellers were Imad “Eddie” Hamdan and his brother-in law, Ziad “Z” Mousa, former owners of the New Orleans-based Brothers Food Mart convenience store chain. The 250,000-square-foot mall had been listed for $3.75 million.
The mall dates back to 1963 when investors Ison Fontenot, Dr. Daniel Voorheis and Joseph Angelle first filed documents to form what was legally known as Northgate Shopping City, court records show. It opened in 1969.
Now the mall sits inside an economic development district that collects a 1% sales tax and a 2% hotel/motel tax and along what will eventually be Interstate 49.
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