The State of Louisiana Architect Selection Board has chosen Guidry Beazley Architects for the new Third Circuit Courthouse in Lake Charles. The $13 million project is expected to house 63,000 square feet. Selected because of their work on the $27 million, 204,000-square-foot John M. Shaw Federal Courthouse located in downtown Lafayette, Guidry Beazley Architects will design the new courthouse to include spaces for the Court of Appeal, resident and satellite judges, the clerk of court, and the court’s legal staff. The new facility will incorporate the latest security provisions necessary for a modern courthouse.
The Baker-for-a-Day event at Great Harvest Bread Co. on March 30 raised $4,800 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Nearly 500 loaves of bread and more than 400 cookies were baked and sold for the event.
Through the Community Cash for Schools program, Community Coffee Company’s customers have helped to raise more than $300,000 this year for participating schools in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region. Over the past 19 years, participating schools have earned a total of more than $3.5 million through the Cash for Schools program. There was an increase in the number of schools participating this year, with more than 700 schools enrolled.
On May 6 at the InterContinental Hotel in New Orleans, Acadian Ambulance Service Inc. was honored with the Emerging Growth Company Award, part of ACG Louisiana’s inaugural ACG Louisiana Awards, which recognize growth companies, business professionals and noteworthy transactions from the state of Louisiana. Also recognized: Outstanding Corporate Growth Award, Superior Energy Services Inc.; Deal of the Year, Rouses Enterprises LLC; Dealmaker of the Year, William F. Borne, chairman and CEO of Amedisys Inc.; and Lifetime Achievement Award, D. B. H. “Black” Chaffe, president and CEO of Chaffe & Associates Inc.
Cox Greater Louisiana has received two Beacon Awards, sponsored by the Association of Cable Communicators. The national awards competition recognizes excellence in communications and public affairs throughout the cable industry. The winners were announced at a gala awards ceremony during ACC’s annual three-day conference at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. From more than 400 entries received in this year’s Beacon Award competition, 72 winners were chosen by cable communications professionals in an extensive two-phase judging process. The overwhelming number of entries represented company initiatives implemented over the past year in areas such as community relations, education and public service programming. Cox Greater Louisiana won a Beacon Award for Programming for Focus on Louisiana, a 13-episode, fact-based, non-partisan, commercial-free series with experts examining issues impacting the state that was produced in partnership with the Council for a Better Louisiana. The system also won a Beacon Award for Internal Communications for “I CAN Make a Difference,” a year-long initiative to motivate and educate employees to become involved in legislative activities and the election process.
Professional Advantage Realty has relocated to a new, larger building in River Ranch. The 2,200-square-foot location on Camellia Boulevard is double the size of PAR’s old building. The real estate consulting firm has grown from two to 15 agents in the past three years, propelling it from ninth to fifth in market share in the Lafayette area. PAR was founded in 1994, specializing in transition solutions for clients downsizing their homes during retirement or increasing home size due to an expanding family. Its services include consulting, negotiating and oversight for both buyers and sellers.
The Career Training Center, a Superior Energy Services company, has remodeled and expanded its location at 3703 South Lewis St. in New Iberia. The CTC is a two-story, 12,000-square-foot facility situated on 4 acres with space available for growth. The additional acreage provides for staging of equipment to incorporate hands-on simulation of actual work scenarios and practical drills. The remodeled facility accommodates 80 students, and each classroom includes state-of-the-art technology for high quality training. The CTC offers training to a wide variety of industries.
A branch of New Orleans-based First Bank and Trust will be housed in a $6 million, three-story office building being constructed in River Ranch. The 6,100-square-foot branch will occupy the first floor of the 24,000-square-foot structure and serve commercial and small-business customers, as well as consumers. Mortgage originators with subsidiary FBT Mortgage will provide interim and permanent home mortgage loans, including fixed-rate and adjustable-rate loans as well as the bank’s proprietary Single Close Construction loan, designed for customers who want to build a home and then, following completion of construction, need permanent financing. Architect and project manager are Steve Oubre and David Robichaux, respectively, both of Architects Southwest, and the general contractor is Core Construction. The Caribbean classical style office building is located at 1201 Camellia Blvd. The branch, expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2008, will include four lobby tellers, three drive-up lanes, safe deposit boxes, an ATM and night deposit drop-off. Approximately 12 employees, including cash management specialists, will staff the branch. Founded in 1991, First Bank and Trust has $690 million in assets and branches in New Orleans, Metairie, Algiers, Kenner, Harahan, Covington, Harvey and Baton Rouge; and a loan production office in Lafayette.
Community Foundation of Acadiana has broken ground at Camellia and Pendleton boulevards, in the heart of River Ranch, where the nonprofit will construct a new headquarters facility. The lot and building were donated by Rodney and Cindi Savoy in hopes that the new facility will increase community involvement and the prominent location will serve as a center for philanthropy in the Acadiana region. Community Foundation of Acadiana is a tax-exempt, nonprofit, non-sectarian public foundation that provides individuals and families, corporations, other nonprofits (including churches and schools) and particular communities/parishes a visionary approach to philanthropy. The foundation is the premier charitable organization in Acadiana, primarily servicing the eight-parish area. Community Foundation of Acadiana provides leadership in facilitating the charitable and creative giving of its donors in an effort to improve the quality of life for local residents. Because the foundation is not the end-beneficiary, it can respond to long-standing as well as to new and emerging local needs under its broad charitable mandate. To learn more, call 337-266-2145 or visit www.cfacadiana.org.
The Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise and Global Industries teamed up to share LITE visualization technology and high-performance computing capabilities with oil and gas industry leaders at the 2008 Offshore Technology Conference held May 5-8 at Reliant Park in Houston. Founded in 1969, OTC is the world’s largest offshore technology event, focusing on the development of offshore resources in the fields of drilling, exploration, production and environmental protection. “Our hosts for OTC, Global Industries, gave us the opportunity to share our exciting visualization technologies with leaders in the oil and gas industry,” says Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira, LITE’s executive director and chief scientist. “Through onsite simulations we developed especially for the conference, our demonstration included an underwater remote vehicle assessing an overturned and submerged rig due to storm action and a virtual fly through of a pre-construction vessel.”
Notes Marty Altman, LITE’s technical director: “Oil and gas companies come to LITE to manipulate multi-gigabyte data sets to plan, minimize risk, reduce cost, increase safety and visualize geoscience uncertainties. Our technologies are applicable for land, near shore or the new frontiers of deep water drilling and are used in reservoir management, quality control, simulations, forecasting, repairs and maintenance, optimizing recovery rates and more.” Altman says with visualization technology, companies can make decisions that reduce risks and save costs while still in the early stages of a project. “New uses for this technology are emerging all the time; using 3-D visualization for real-time control of underwater remote vehicles is a good example,” he adds.
To prepare for the conference, which attracted 70,000 attendees, Global Industries sent LITE experts rough files on its new vessels, as well as subsea work on a collapsed rig. “You need something huge to stand out from the crowd,” says Jeff Miller, manager of public relations and marketing services at Global Industries. “They made the final product something that managed to be a big home run. The end result was a long waiting line to get into the main attraction of our booth, which was the 3-D Subsea Experience that LITE created.”
Bradley & Moreau Real Estate Law Firm was a sponsor for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk held at Girard Park in March. The largest real estate law firm in Lafayette with nearly 30 employees and two locations, Bradley & Moreau raised $1,800.