50 Cent was present at Tuesday’s Shreveport City Council meeting as the council gave him the greenlight to lease Stageworks.

The Shreveport City Council unanimously passed an ordinance to authorize a lease agreement between Stageworks Louisiana and Jackson’s G-Unit Films & Television Louisiana LLC for the operation of a sports and entertainment event venue.

G-Unit is set to transform a portion of the building into a state-of-the-art sports and entertainment venue, featuring a variety of events such as amateur and professional basketball and volleyball leagues and tournaments, amateur and professional boxing and MMA matches, seminars, conventions, auto shows, concerts and general business meetings, as outlined in the background information on the ordinance’s fact sheet provided to the council.

The proposed lease has been on the council agenda since May 2024. However, the vote had been postponed until ongoing negotiations were complete between the city and G-Unit.

The lease agreement between the city and G-Unit spans 30 years, with a 15-year renewal option, and a monthly rent of $200. G-Unit will take over maintenance and operational cost of the facilities.

Here’s what 50 Cent had to say at Tuesday’s meeting:

Following the vote to approve the lease agreement, Jackson offered statements to the council. Here’s what he had to say.

“I just want to say — in the short period of time, I’ve come to like the people of Shreveport in a different way. It feels like home for me, and eventually it’ll be home because I have some work to do. I remember [Councilman] Alan [Jackson], the first time I spoke to him after Humor & Harmony, the first thing he said was, ‘Well, what’s next?’ and I was like, ‘I think I need to talk to Tourism. I think I need to talk to all of these other people to build it out.’

“I’m excited about building those things and I want to say openly to [Councilman] Jim [Taliaferro] that — I haven’t had to talk to you directly — I promise you, I’ll over deliver with Shreveport. Like you see, it was filled to capacity when we was here for Humor & Harmony. I have programs and plans for the facilities, so you’ll be able to look at the things that are happening throughout the year, and it’ll be actively used in a different way.” S: Shreveport Times