The scenario: You’re 17, it’s Friday night in New Iberia. School’s out for the weekend, (FINALLY!) Your friends have already played so much Xbox the console’s overheated. Your phone is dead. There’s nothing on TV. The movie theatre’s closed. Your mother refuses to drive you to Lafayette. There is literally. Nothing. To. Do.

This is a familiar situation for New Iberia youth and young adults. There is a marked lack of activities and “hang out” space for youth in this town. While there are school sponsored programs: sports, band, drama, clubs and more; recreational programs at the parish parks: tennis, basketball, volleyball, swimming, walking, summer camp; museums including the Bayou Teche Museum and Shadows on the Teche; these are limited to seasons, daytime operation, and really, how many museum trips can a mom squeeze out of her teenagers before they run screaming into the afternoon?

Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs is another option, as are Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, all active in Iberia Parish. Again, these programs have limits (such as age and interest) and don’t always provide the space teenagers crave to get social.

This is exactly the dilemma community activist and urban planner Phanat Xananame of New Iberia was pondering one recent day at lunch, which gave birth to the idea for a project that would offer a solution to Nothing. To. Do. As he drove around New Iberia, he noticed many vacant commercial spaces, and his thoughts alighted on the now-defunct Winn Dixie building at St. Peter and Lewis Street. He began to design and quickly came up with Da Berry YouthPlex, a recreational center to cater to families with teens looking for something to do.

Xananame posted his sketches on Facebook, along with a description of the features of the space. His vision is that the building could house multi-program space to inspire creativity and positivity in our youth, including a roller rink, garden, cafe, book and comic shop, gaming station, art digital media lab and yoga studio.

He also proposed that as a business, the YouthPlex could host birthday parties and other events, and offer lessons in TikTok dancing and creating social media content, sell youth collectibles, etc. The post quickly went viral, garnering more than 350 comments and 1000 shares.

Xananame offered the suggestion of selling subscriptions to provide a good base of business.

“I believe the Planet Fitness model of subscription would definitely work, with a $10-$15 monthly fee giving members all access”, he said.

Safety and security are natural parental concerns around this type of complex, and Xananame has addressed those as well.

“Da Berry YouthPlex could develop an app, with the information youth members want, events, features, coupons — but also with the features parents would like — allowing them to track their teens’ activities, see attendance at the center, even check in cameras.”

The app could be included in the members’ subscription price.

A project of this magnitude needs one major thing to come to fruition — money. Xananame is currently soliciting investors for this project — or a similar project in another of New Iberia’s empty buildings.

“This is a million-dollar project. It needs investors with concern for the youth of New Iberia. We have a multitude of empty buildings around town that could be repurposed for this kind of center,” he said.

Currently, there are plans to launch a Kickstarter fund to design and develop the app slated for early Spring.

Who would this serve? Youth and young adults of Iberia Parish, and beyond. According to Iberia Parish School Board, there are approximately 3,900 students enrolled in high school in the parish. Xananame predicts at least a 10 percent subscription rate would be needed to make the business work, with upwards of 50 percent being optimal. Add in some older teenagers/young adults from Iberia and surrounding areas, and it could work to alleviate the boredom and negativity fostered by the youth of New Iberia. Not to mention parental frustration relief, and maybe even smaller family internet bills.