On General Gardner Avenue, at the edge of the Freetown-Port Rico neighborhood, behind tall pine and magnolia trees, sit the remnants of a once stately home. At the feet of the two-story mansion’s facade of peeling paint and broken windows, beer cans, food containers and other trash litter the yard.
The blighted building known as the Griffin House is one of several abandoned or blank properties owned by UL Lafayette and its affiliates, a real estate portfolio that continued growing until 2024, shortly before the school’s budget crisis came into full public view.
In all, UL and associated agencies own some 700 acres of property in Lafayette Parish alone, according to assessor’s records. Most of that acreage comprises its main campus, its dorms, its classrooms and its athletic facilities accumulated over decades of growth. Ragin Cajun Facilities Inc., the nonprofit that has acted as the university’s developer since 2001, reported $284 million in net property and equipment assets as of 2025, according to its latest audit…