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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 13, 2009
Contact: Christina Stephens, christina.stephens@la.gov
State-Funded Housing Development Holds Groundbreaking for Chateau Carre Apartments in New Orleans
BATON ROUGE, La. – Representatives from the Louisiana Recovery Authority, Louisiana Office of Community Development and Louisiana Housing Finance Agency joined with local officials and representatives from Renaissance Neighborhood Development Corporation - a subsidiary of the Volunteers of America - and Capital One Bank in a groundbreaking ceremony held Tuesday at the Chateau Carre Apartments in New Orleans.
The Chateau Carre Apartments is a rehabilitated, mixed-income housing development that will offer 150 one- and two-bedroom rental units - 72 of which will be market-rate and 78 of which will be affordable. The Hurricane Katrina-shuttered complex is located across from Dillard University in the Sugar Hill neighborhood of Gentilly.
To help finance the $23 million project, the developer used $8.7 million in Community Development Block Grant funds from a pool of federal disaster recovery funds earmarked for low-to-moderate income households, which were "piggybacked" onto equity generated through the sale of GO Zone Housing Tax Credits administered through the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency. Capital One Bank has committed a total of $14.5 million to the Chateau Carre rehabilitation project, comprised of an equity investment of $6.9 million through the purchase of the low-income housing tax credits, and a $7.6 million construction loan.
Paul Rainwater, LRA executive director, said, "The use of disaster recovery funding to rehabilitate these apartments into a mixed-income community will offer residents the much-needed option of quality workforce housing, provide university students with safe and convenient living quarters and contribute to blight removal in the city."
Victor Smeltz, Renaissance Neighborhood Development Corporation executive director, said, "The LRA/OCD has been a terrific partner in helping us make this project a reality. This is an excellent example of how public resources can effectively leverage private investment to help re-build vital communities like we have in Gentilly."
The interior of Chateau Carre will be completely rebuilt with spacious one- and two-bedroom apartments; a new community center with exercise room, business center, rental office and meeting space; and landscaped courtyards with a variety of outdoor living areas. The property has been carefully re-designed to create a sense of community for the residents, as well as to build relationships with the Sugar Hill neighborhood.
Louisiana has awarded a total of 57 Piggyback projects in areas of the state most impacted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, amounting to more than $580 million. In total, the Piggyback program will create more than 8,100 rental units to help replace housing stock lost in the storms. Nearly 7,000 units, or more than 80 percent, will be built in the New Orleans metro area.
Created in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita in 2005, the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) is the coordinating and planning body leading the most extensive rebuilding effort in American history. The central point for hurricane recovery in Louisiana, the LRA works closely with the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) and partners with state and federal agencies to oversee more than $20 billion worth of programs, speed the pace of rebuilding, remove hurdles and red tape and ensure that Louisiana recovers safer and stronger than before.
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