City-Parish President Joey Durel will move forward with negotiations to purchase the Lesspay Motel at Cameron Street and University Avenue.

The City-Parish Council Tuesday night gave its blessing for the administration to explore the property’s purchase, but not until Durel’s initial proposal was stripped down.

The city-parish president wanted to negotiate a landswap for the hotel site with the Lafayette Public Trust Financing Authority, a deal that could have led to developing the old federal courthouse downtown.

Instead, the Downtown Development Authority will soon ask for approval from the council... for it to put out a request for proposals to develop the courthouse site into a mixed-use center.

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