At their Oct. 22 board meeting, the University of Louisiana System approved the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s request to enter a lease with Ragin’ Cajun Facilities, Inc. (RCFI), for the Peter M. John and David M. John Wildlife and Coastal Preservation Center on Pecan Island. This also approved a subsequent sublease between RCFI and Space Exploration Technologies Corp, also known as SpaceX.

What used to be the old Pecan Island School was turned into the Pecan Island School Lodge by brothers Peter M. John and David M. John, following Hurricane Rita in September 2005, which forced the school to close its doors. The brothers renovated the school while preserving most of its history, and the building has become a community space since its reopening in 2016.

In September 2025, the brothers donated the $1.4 million, 39,000-square-foot facility to UL Lafayette with the hopes to return it to a place of learning, according to University news. The renaming to Peter M. John and David M. John Wildlife and Coastal Preservation Center was approved by the UL System to honor the donation.

Fast forward a year later, the facility on Pecan Island has been sitting untouched, according to Scott Hebert, director of facility management and authorized official RCFI representative.

That will no longer be the case, with SpaceX making a move to utilize the facility for their spaceport project on the island.

Hebert said, “The University is in a financial crunch, so it only makes sense to take an asset that, quite honestly, we’re not utilizing at the moment, and we’re having to spend, you know, money to keep the utilities on and upkeep the place.”

“It only makes sense to offload that property and to sell it to an entity like SpaceX,” he continued.

According to Hebert, the University is looking to eventually sell the property to SpaceX. Meanwhile, they entered into a lease for the property with RCFI, with a rent of a dollar per year, who is then subleasing it to SpaceX.

Explaining the function of RCFI, Hebert said that it is a private nonprofit entity affiliated with UL Lafayette, structured to work hand-in-hand with the University via leases and leasebacks to construct and manage facility improvements. Projects on campus that were done under RCFI include The Heritage Apartments, Legacy Park Apartments, Student Union, the dormitories and parking towers.

Hebert said, “In essence, RCFI can act as a bonding agency for the University on projects where they can go and secure bonds and fundraise for those type of projects, whereas the University has to rely on capital outlay funding to move those projects around.”

Going through an entity like RCFI allows the deal with SpaceX to be expedited, compared to going through standard university procedures. Hebert said, “It’s more or less… a mechanism or a tool that the University has to be able to enact a lease structure much quicker than going through normal state processes.”

Hebert clarified components of the lease agreement between UL Lafayette and RCFI brought up among community concerns, starting off with “Exhibit A,” which is stated under “Recitals” to describe improvements to the property, yet it is blank. Hebert said that this is because “Exhibit A” does not apply to RCFI and there were no listed improvements to be made.

Next, the dollar lease. Under “Rent and Consideration,” the lease agreement stated, “RCFI shall pay an annual rent of One Dollar ($1.00), due on the Effective Date and each anniversary thereafter, and other valuable consideration.”

Hebert said, “The University as a state entity cannot lease any property without getting some monetary gain.” As RCFI is a nonprofit, affiliated state entity, paying a rent of a dollar a year is simply to meet this legal requirement. This then allows RCFI to manage the property on the University’s behalf, in this case, to sublease it to SpaceX.

So, how exactly would the University financially gain from these lease and sublease agreements? According to Hebert, the University benefits from the improvements that SpaceX intends to make to the property. While SpaceX makes those improvements at no cost from the University or the state, the value of the property, still owned by UL Lafayette, thereby increases. This value of the property eventually plays a big factor in the negotiations of a final sale.

Now that SpaceX has the ability to enter the property, they will be conducting site assessments and proceeding with their necessary repairs, with RCFI’s oversight. In the meantime, negotiations will be made between SpaceX and respective state leaders working with leaders of the UL System Board of Supervisors and the Board of Regents, on behalf of the University.

At the time of this story, what SpaceX intends to do with the property remains uncertain.