Business View Civil & Municipal | Volume 2, Issue 8

115 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 2, ISSUE 8 THI BODAUX , LOUI S I ANA four-year state university here. So when you look at Thibodaux, it’s not so much about industry, it’s more about the southern hospitality and charm, our old plantation homes and a lot of live oaks.” In many ways, it could be said that NSU is the lifeblood of Thibodaux, but it doesn’t proffer an institutional atmosphere on the community. In fact, as the university has grown, it’s blended in with the aesthetics of the bayou region and the city. Residents like that there are plenty of opportunities for living and doing business, and all the amenities are close at hand, without having the hustle and bustle of a bigger urban center. Not surprisingly, the demand has been high for housing in Thibodaux for the last few years and a couple of superior quality residential developments have been built, but the city sets high design standards and isn’t ready to grow just for the sake of growing. Eschete acknowledges, “It is such a desirable place to live and many of the beautiful older homes dating back to the early 1900s have made a transformation into professional offices and the like. While we do have a Walmart and a Lowe’s, most of our other retail outlets and franchises are locally owned. We have restrictions for signage, and comprehensive zoning in our corporate limits, and that’s what attracts individuals to our high-end homes. It keeps us in that desirable, bedroom community atmosphere.” The city’s major employers are Nicholls State University, and the Thibodaux Regional Health System, which features a five-story, state-of-the- art wellness center – $60 million project. They are now building a $70 million regional cancer center that is slated to be open by the fall. In the agricultural sector, with the sugar industry still being a big part of Lafourche Parish, the John Deere manufacturing plant keeps its 400 to 600 employees busy producing cane harvesting equipment and other farming implements. The Mayor shares, “To have all those types of