LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) — Mayor-President Josh Guillory’s administration recently opened the Heymann Performing Arts Center to an appraisal by Lafayette General Health, according to records obtained by The Daily Advertiser and interviews.

In what was a closely guarded secret at City Hall, Lafayette Consolidated Government employees worked to fill a “confidential request” on Lafayette General’s behalf for information about the building’s condition and any legal hurdles on the donated land where it stands next door to Lafayette General Medical Center on South College Road.

The land that the Heymann Center sits on amounts to 7 acres of commercial property directly beside Lafayette General Medical Center on the edge of Lafayette’s Oil Center. 

Here’s what we know:

Who owns the Heymann Center and can it be sold?

The land was donated to the city of Lafayette in 1957 by the Heymann family for the construction of the Heymann Center. The deed for their donation does not prohibit Lafayette Consolidated Government from selling the land or the building.

The value of the building and the land it sits on is unclear, since Lafayette General’s appraisal has not been completed. Lafayette Parish Assessor Conrad Comeaux said that current assessments putting the land at $1.8 million and the building at $6 million likely undervalue both.

Why would Lafayette General Health want to buy the Heymann Center?

The Heymann Center has long been seen as the only place left for Lafayette General Medical Center to expand its healthcare facilities in Lafayette’s Oil Center, with former Mayor-President Joey Duel acknowledging at one point that the hospital had nowhere else to expand.

“It’s got nowhere to expand to other than right there where the Heymann Center is,” he told The Advertiser in 2014. “That’s the most logical expansion for it.”

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