In July a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement (CEA) was entered into by and between Shreve Memorial Library, Southern University Law Center, the city of Shreveport and the parish of Caddo concerning the establishment of a satellite law center at the downtown Shreve Memorial Library building in the 400 block of Texas Street.
Southern plans on starting a third-year, second-semester law school in the building and gradually expand the courses with the goal of having a full-time law campus in Shreveport.
The law school will initially occupy the third and fourth floors of the library. Southern has said it hopes eventually to occupy the entire building, which is owned by Shreve Memorial Library.
Under the terms of the CEA, the library will provide use of the top two floors, provide utilities, maintenance and pest control. The library will donate to Southern office furniture and provide a collection of law books, which will be regularly updated. This collection will be for the use of Southern students and library patrons, and the library will retain ownership of the collection.
The library will provide space for Southern IT operations, provide keycards/badge access to the building and provide other shared accommodations.
The CEA provides for a five-year, $1 per year lease of the third and fourth floors, commencing in June of this year with one-year renewal options.
Southern is to pay for any construction remodeling of the third and fourth floors and provide their own telephone system, wifi and internet connections. Southern is responsible for general housekeeping, upkeep and maintenance of the two leased floors.
Southern is to contribute to the library 10% for utility, fire suppression, HVAC and building maintenance expenses of the library annually, which is estimated to be $312,500 per year.
Southern will provide its own guard services for the third and fourth floors. Southern may at its expense install a generator for emergency power for its IT services.
The city consented to the CEA. The parish, which owns the library building, also consented to the CEA.