Originally published by Baton Rouge Business Report
The development arm of the East Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority is planning to develop a 99-unit senior housing complex on a 4.5-acre site on Gardere Lane between Highland Road and Burbank Drive.
The Cypress at Gardere, as the planned development will be called, will consist of 88 one-bedroom and 11 two-bedroom units in a single, four-story building at 515 Gardere Lane. The EBRHA acquired the property earlier this month from Chase Bank for $450,000.
The agency’s nonprofit development firm, recently rebranded as Partners Southeast, is spearheading the project. The firm was formerly known as Partners for Progress.
“We are excited about the opportunity to provide our senior residents with this first-class housing community surrounded by attractive neighborhood amenities,” says Partners Southeast Chief Operating Officer J. Daniels, adding the estimated cost of the project will be around $17 million.
The Cypress at Gardere will include a mixture of market rate and affordable housing units. Daniels says no determination has been on the breakdown between the two categories, or on whether the complex will be open to adults over age of 55 or only those 62 and older.
“We’re still figuring all that out,” he says. “It’s early in the process.”
Partners Southeast has selected a joint venture of CORE Construction Services and Legette Construction to be construction manager. Construction is scheduled to begin early next year, with completion scheduled for early 2019. Partners Southeast will solicit proposals from property management firms in the coming months, Daniels says.
The site on which the complex will be developed is zoned C-1, or light commercial, under which senior housing is allowed, meaning the project does not need to go before the Planning Commission for zoning approval.
The complex will feature a two-story lobby entrance, a community room with kitchen, salon, library/business center, theater room, fitness room and walking trails.
