The First United Methodist Church is hoping to sell or lease their parking lot property on Lee Avenue with the mission to see continued growth downtown with the help of Lafayette Downtown Development.

LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) -- The First United Methodist Church is hoping to sell or lease their parking lot property on Lee Avenue with the mission to see continued growth downtown with the help of Lafayette Downtown Development.

The church reached out to Lafayette downtown development to help them find projects that will bring attention to downtown Lafayette.

CEO of Lafayette Downtown Development Authority Anita Begnaud spoke with News Ten about the church's offer.

"We've been having conversations with the church for several months now about how they can play a larger role in downtown's revitalization, how they can leverage the fact that they are property owners in Lafayette to participate in the redevelopment of the downtown area," said Begnaud.

In order to make sure there is enough land for potential businesses to operate, the church has combined two parcels of their land to offer.

"When you put them together it creates about 16,000 square feet of opportunity for redevelopment," said Begnaud.

Begnaud says the church is already planning a meeting in order for potential developers to see the 16,000 square foot lot and piece their ideas together.

"The things that are priorities of ours are residential, good commercial activity to drive foot traffic to areas, and things that are placemaking efforts. Things that bring vibrancy to the downtown area," Begnaud said.

Begnaud says proposals from interested developers will be accepted until January first.

"There will be a meeting that will be held on November first on site where folks can see the site, talk to leadership of the church. This is really an open-ended opportunity for people that have a good idea of what could go onto that site, to put some skin in the game and bring a proposal forward and see where the church lands on that," said Begnaud.