PCH Kicks Off New Orleans Redevelopment
A former school on the Freret Street retail corridor will be converted to a 62-unit affordable senior community.
Our Lady of Lourdes Apartments. Image courtesy of Providence Community Housing
Providence Community Housing has kicked off the redevelopment of Our Lady of Lourdes Apartments in New Orleans. The property, a former school built in 1957, will be converted into a 62-unit affordable senior community.
As the pandemic accelerated the developers’ appetite for converting outdated properties such as hotels to senior housing, PCH has turned to Lady of Lourdes Catholic School and Gymnatorium that has been left vacant since 2019. Our Lady of Lourdes Apartments is anticipated to open its doors in early 2023.
Christopher Homes Inc. will serve as property manager, while Trapolin-Peer Architects was tapped to design the adaptive reuse project that will also involve new construction. Predevelopment is expected to last eight months, with construction scheduled to begin in early 2022.
PCH plans to secure 4 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credits and tax-exempt bonds funded by the Finance Authority of New Orleans for the adaptive reuse project. Additional financing will be provided by a HUD 221(d)(4) loan originated by Bellwether Enterprise. The project is qualified for Federal and State Historic Tax Credits.
Located at 2428 Napoleon Ave., the project will feature studio and one-bedroom units available to residents aged 62 and over and earning 50 percent of the area median income or lower. Residents of Our Lady of Lourdes Apartments will also have access to a congregation space and a business center.
The property is on the eastern edge of the Freret Street retail corridor, placing future residents within less than half a mile from the Ochsner Baptist – A Campus of Ochsner Medical Center, and less than 2 miles from Audubon Park.
