If you live in Acacia Bluff and cut over to Kaliste Saloom Road on your way to Ambassador Caffery, you know the building. It sits past the intersection, low and long, with tennis courts out back that haven't seen a match in years and a parking lot that's mostly just a place for weeds. For a while there was a fence and a hole where a swimming pool used to be. Then nothing. For years, nothing.
That building was the Lafayette Health Club, and it has been closed for more than 15 years. Long enough that most people who drive past it daily never knew it as anything but empty. Long enough that when demolition crews showed up in 2022 and filled in the old pool, plenty of neighbors assumed that was the beginning of something. It wasn't. The site went quiet again and stayed quiet for another few years.
This time it's actually different, and the reason it's different is worth understanding if you live within walking or short-driving distance of that stretch of Kaliste Saloom.
Why 2022 Fooled Everybody
The pool demolition in 2022 looked like progress because it was visible. A crew showed up, equipment moved, something physically changed on a site that hadn't changed in a decade. But removing a derelict pool isn't the same as having a buyer, a concept, or a construction budget. It's cleanup, not commitment. The site sat in that half-cleared state for years afterward, which is exactly the kind of thing that trains a neighborhood to stop expecting anything to happen there at all.
What actually signals commitment is a sale. That happened in 2025, when an LLC registered to Adam Johnston and developer Chase Landry of Chase Group Construction bought the property for $1.5 million. Landry has been public about what he's building and why, telling local press:
"This site isn't just another development. It's an opportunity to restore life to a location that meant something to Lafayette for many years."
He's also framed it as a return to the site's original purpose rather than a replacement of it, since the old Health Club was, for decades before it closed, a place where people in this part of Lafayette actually gathered.
What's Actually Going In
The concept is called SMASH Pickleball & Restaurant, and if you haven't heard of it yet, you likely will soon. It's the creation of Aaron Dulin, who also founded Fat Pat's Grill and Bar, and the format pairs a full-service restaurant and bar with regulation-size outdoor pickleball courts. Think less "gym membership" and more "place you'd actually go on a Thursday night."
The first SMASH location opened in Youngsville's Sugar Mill Pond community at 2822 Bonin Road, with a grand opening and ribbon cutting on March 10, 2026. That version gives a good preview of what's coming to Kaliste Saloom: four fenced-in courts with lighting for daytime or evening play, a cushioned surface that's easier on the knees than a standard hard court, and an outdoor layout with fire pits, picnic tables, cooling fans, a fenced kids' area, and a pet-friendly patio. The food leans American, with both lighter options and the kind of shareable, indulgent stuff you'd expect at a place built around watching games and drinking with friends.
The Kaliste Saloom location is where it gets more interesting for Acacia Bluff specifically. Unlike the Youngsville spot, this one is planned with a rooftop bar overlooking the pickleball courts, according to reporting from Developing Lafayette and KATC, and the existing tennis courts on-site are being converted into the pickleball surfaces rather than built from scratch. Local outlets have reported a Fall 2026 target for opening, which puts this within the next several weeks to a couple of months if that timeline holds.
Here's the short version of how a landmark went from write-off to reopening:
- The Lafayette Health Club closes following the previous owner's bankruptcy.
- The building and courts sit vacant for well over a decade, becoming a fixture of neglect on the corridor.
- In 2022, demolition crews remove and fill the old outdoor pool, a visible but ultimately isolated step.
- In 2025, Chase Group Construction buys the property for $1.5 million, with plans for a restaurant, rooftop bar, and pickleball courts.
- SMASH opens its first Acadiana location in Youngsville on March 10, 2026, giving residents a preview of the concept.
- The Kaliste Saloom location targets a Fall 2026 opening, converting the site's existing tennis courts into pickleball courts.
The Rest of the Block Already Turned Over
The Health Club redevelopment is the slowest-moving story on this stretch of road, but it's not the only one. In the time it took that single property to go from demolition to an actual construction timeline, the rest of the immediate corridor changed hands multiple times over.
At the corner of Kaliste Saloom and Ambassador Caffery, Ground Pat'i's lease at 2512 Kaliste Saloom Road expired at the end of 2023. The restaurant chose not to renew, and before the end of 2025 the space had turned over to Toasted Yolk Café, a brunch chain. Ground Pat'i didn't disappear. It reopened at its original Johnston Street location, in a building purchased by Old Tyme Grocery owners Glenn and Cheri Murphree, which is its own small story about how one lease decision can ripple into a completely different address across town.
A few other additions have landed nearby:
- Empire Wingz opened at 1521 Ambassador Caffery Parkway, in a former Subway space next to La Chapina and La Catraccha. It's the eighth location for the Baton Rouge-founded wing brand, and it runs self-serve ordering kiosks to keep lines moving during busy stretches.
- Café Spicyman opened at 400 E. Kaliste Saloom Road, Suite 1250, bringing Trinidad and Tobago-inspired street food, jerk marinades, and handcrafted pepper sauces to a corridor that hasn't had much Caribbean food before.
None of these are far from the Albertsons anchoring the Ambassador Caffery and Kaliste Saloom intersection, which means this short stretch of road has quietly become a place where you can grocery shop, grab wings, get brunch, and soon watch a pickleball match from a rooftop bar, all within the same few blocks.
What This Actually Changes for a Tuesday Night
If you live in Acacia Bluff, none of this requires a special trip. It's the corridor you're already driving. What changes is what's available on it. The building that's been a symbol of nothing happening for a decade and a half is on a real construction timeline with a real opening date, and the food options around it have already turned over enough that the block looks different than it did even two years ago.
The practical thing to watch for is the Fall 2026 target date. If it holds, that's a rooftop bar and pickleball courts within a short drive of home by the time the weather cools off enough to actually want to be outside in Lafayette. If it slips, as construction timelines sometimes do, the Youngsville location is close enough to visit in the meantime to get a sense of the concept before it lands on your own corridor.
Either way, the next time you drive past that building, it's worth actually looking at it. For a long time there wasn't much reason to.
If you're weighing a move within Acadiana or thinking about what a property near this kind of corridor is actually worth once the surrounding businesses catch up to it, Walter R Campbell and the Main Street Team can walk you through what's changing in Acacia Bluff and the neighborhoods around it. Work With Us when you're ready to talk specifics.
