Land mortgage firm relocating La. headquarters to Zachary

First South Farm Credit, a Mississippi-based company specializing in land mortgages, is relocating its Louisiana headquarters from Opelousas to Zachary, says Louisiana Division President David Wilson. The company, with 48 offices across three states, will break ground in the coming week or so on a new office complex off La. 964, near Copper Mill Elementary School, that will replace an existing Zachary branch on La. 19 and include additional space for the new headquarters of First South’s Louisiana operations. Completion is expected by September. The company’s state headquarters have been located in Opelousas for 26 years, says Wilson, but “basically, it’s just a little easier to attract top talent” to the Capital Region. “If we’re looking to get someone to relocate, it’s an easier sell,” he says, noting the draw of Zachary’s school system, ranked first in the state. The Zachary location is First South’s lone office in the Capital Region, and it has offices in 11 other Louisiana cities. The company also operates in Mississippi—with corporate headquarters in Ridgeland, a suburb of Jackson—and Alabama. —Steve Sanoski