Partners Southeast has purchased a medical services building on North Boulevard for $2.53 million from Arthur Tolar’s company 4550 North Boulevard LLC.
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Louisiana Housing Corporation Board of Directors Meeting Recap
LHC’s Board of Directors approved $210 million to develop 731 affordable rental units across four Louisiana parishes.
This investment represents a combination of LHC’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and Mortgage Revenue Bonds (MRBs).
The approved developments represent a mix of new construction projects that aim to assist working families, households with children, seniors, and people with disabilities.
The Multifamily Mortgage Revenue Bond program uses tax-exempt bonds to provide below-market-rate loans to developers who set aside a certain percentage of their apartment units for low-income families. The bonds are leveraged with private equity from 10-year 4 percent Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC).
The LHC Board approved the following projects for final approval of bond sale:
The LHC Board approved the following project for new construction:
Visit Greater Baton Rouge Business Report to read the article.
Originally published by BR Pround
Affordable housing is getting harder to find, and that has the East Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority concerned. Experts say not enough houses are being built. Meanwhile, with higher interest rates, fewer people are buying and selling homes.
“You’ll probably pay two to three hundred more in your monthly mortgage for the same house. Just because of the rise in interest rates. So yeah, it’s pushing the affordable rate out the window,” said Leo Desselle, Pennant Real Estate owner.
It’s putting a strain on residents looking for affordable housing. East Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority CEO J. Wesley Daniels, Jr. said people are staying in assisted housing for longer than usual so those apartments can’t be turned over to help new applicants as quickly.
“It has taken a segment and a group of families and made housing unaffordable because of the increase in mortgage rates because of that. Now they have to continue to live in multifamily housing or rental housing,” said Daniels.
Some renters have been waiting months, some years, for help from the East Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority.
“And by like a year to two years before we get to where we need to be, you know, is everything you need, is a good thing to have when you got over two or three children,” explained Robert Bradley, a Baton Rouge resident.
Originally published by BR Pround
Two years ago, the Elm Grove Gardens apartment complex was in such bad shape it got the nickname ‘Nightmare on Elm Street.’ Families had to be relocated and all of the units were boarded up.
Now, the plan is to rebuild from scratch and in 18 months more than 80 families will be able to move back to a much safer and new apartment complex.
“There has not been a single-family dwelling in over 45 years in this community,” said Chauna Banks, District 2 East Baton Rouge Metro-Councilwoman.
The East Baton Rouge Housing Authority (EBRHA) is teaming up with the city and nonprofit Banyan to redevelop the property now named Capstone at Scotlandville.
The $23 million project will house 84 families.
Banyan is a nonprofit organization helping fund the project. President and CEO Rob Coach said the location promises opportunity.
Originally published by Baton Rouge Business Report
The north Baton Rouge community anchored by the Ardendale urban village is among four national finalists up for a $30 million U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development grant.
On Feb. 20, HUD officials will visit the site—which includes the East Fairfield, Smiley Heights and Melrose East neighborhoods—to get a better understanding of Baton Rouge’s transformation plan for the community, which is being reimagined as an “urban creative village.”
“They’ll already see significant investment from the private sector,” says J. Daniels, director of the East Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority. “We want to highlight those different instances, like the Career and Technical Education Center and the Automotive Collision Training Center.”
The $30 million would go toward gap financing for housing, funding assistance for neighborhood organizations like 100 Black Men and the YWCA, and development of an early childhood center, Daniels says. Some money would also be used to create loan funds for businesses that relocate to the area.
It’s likely Baton Rouge, as one of just four finalists, will receive a grant: Congress allocated $145 million for the Fiscal Year 2018 Choice Neighborhoods Implementation grants and those are maxed out at $30 million per community.
Baton Rouge was narrowed down from 32 applicants. Other finalists include the housing authorities and cities of Omaha, Nebraska; Newport News, Virginia; and Norfolk, Virginia.
EBRPHA, along with the City of Baton Rouge and the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority, are working with more than 60 neighborhood, local, state and federal partners to restore vibrancy in the historically blighted area.
The $30 million grant would be leveraged to spur an estimated $335.5 million in further investment, Daniels says.
HUD will announce grant winners in March.
Originally published by U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD)
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has identified four applicants as finalists to compete for FY2018 Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grants to transform public and/or other HUD-assisted housing, as well as the surrounding neighborhood. The entities below, selected from a pool of 32 applicants, will compete for individual grants of up to $30 million. HUD anticipates announcing awards in March 2019.
Finalists – Lead Applicant / Co-Applicant(s) (if applicable)
City of Omaha, Nebraska / Omaha Housing Authority
Housing Authority of East Baton Rouge / City of Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority / City of Newport News, Virginia
Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority / City of Norfolk, Virginia
In the coming weeks, a HUD team will visit the targeted housing and neighborhoods to meet with the applicants and partners to get a clear understanding of their individual Transformation Plans. The HUD teams will ensure the applicants are committed and capable of implementing the neighborhood transformation as described in their application. Therefore, being selected as a finalist is not an indication of a grant award.
Site visits are part of HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant application review process to determine which of the finalists are most competitive. Opening the site visits to the public or revealing the location of the targeted housing or neighborhood at this stage is not permitted under the statute governing HUD’s process to award competitive grants. Following the visits, HUD may request that applicants respond to technical clarification questions.
These finalists were ranked on how well their vision, capacity, and need addressed Choice Neighborhoods’ three core goals:
Housing: Replace distressed public and assisted housing with high-quality mixed-income housing that is well-managed and responsive to the needs of the surrounding neighborhood;
People: Improve outcomes of households living in the target housing related to employment and income, health, and children’s education; and
Neighborhood: Create the conditions necessary for public and private reinvestment in distressed neighborhoods to offer the kinds of amenities and assets, including safety, good schools, and commercial activity, that are important to families’ choices about their community.
Finalists were determined based upon information submitted to HUD by the application deadline of September 17, 2018. HUD has conducted a two-tier process for reviewing FY2018 Choice Neighborhoods Implementation applications: (1) application screening and (2) preliminary rating and ranking. In the application screening stages, HUD screened each application to determine that it met the NOFA’s key eligibility criteria, did not contain technical deficiencies, and met all threshold criteria (listed in Section III.C). Applications that passed the application screening stage moved to the rating and ranking stage. The preliminary rating and ranking tier involves two stages of rating review. A Stage 1 rating review was conducted in which HUD evaluated the applications based on the Capacity and Need rating factors. Applications that scored sufficient points in the Stage 1 rating review moved to Stage 2 rating review, where HUD evaluated applications based on the Strategy (Neighborhood, Housing, and People) and Soundness of Approach rating factors. The applicants that were selected as finalists met all of the NOFA’s eligibility criteria, demonstrated strong capacity, and have developed a transformation that addresses the three core goals of Choice Neighborhoods.
HUD has notified the 28 applications that were not selected for funding. Such applications were either (1) void or ineligible submissions, (2) did not meet threshold criteria in Section III.C of the NOFA, or (3) did not score sufficient points to be selected as a finalist.
If an application did not meet all threshold criteria, HUD has provided a detailed letter to the Lead Applicant and Co-Applicant fully describing the threshold criteria and failure(s). As the application was not rated, this letter constitutes the debriefing. For applications that were rated (either only in Stage 1 or both Stage 1 and 2), HUD has provided the applicants with a copy of the score earned for each rating factor that was reviewed. HUD will offer debriefings for these applications as soon as the competition concludes, beginning no later than April 2019.
Originally published by Baton Rouge Business Report
Four months into its funding search, officials hoping to transform the former site of the Earl K. Long Hospital are in the middle of securing partnerships with three prospective anchor tenants.
In September, Mayor Sharon Weston Broome and East Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority Acting CEO J. Wesley Daniels—who, along with State Sen. Regina Barrow, are working on the redevelopment initiative—told Daily Report they were beginning a funding search that would take approximately 120 days.
But the trio hasn’t met since then. Instead, the EBRPHA and Partners Southeast have taken the lead on the project, which Daniels estimates could cost anywhere from $6 million to $9 million. The housing authority is acting as the transaction facilitator, while Partners Southeast is working on the financing.
The partners—which Daniels declines to name, but notes represent institutions of “education, economic development and health and wellness”—would eventually anchor the 15-acre site on Airline Highway.
“We’re still in discussions with them right now,” he says. “They all have different funding and grant cycles, so we’re making sure we’re cued up with those.”
As envisioned, the development would include a health center, day care center, educational center, job training facility, restaurants and housing, among other features.
He’s also been talking with different financial institutions, figuring out the best ways to leverage the area’s recent Opportunity Zone designation to attract investors. The development should also lend itself to New Market Tax Credit opportunities, he says.
As for Partners Southeast getting a developer to sign onto the project as a joint venture partner?
“That’s a secondary priority,” Daniels says. “Our main priority is getting these partners who will represent the anchor. We want to remain committed to the spirit of what the community has expressed.”
Approximately 825 working families will benefit from housing investment
BATON ROUGE— Today the Louisiana Housing Corporation (LHC) Board of Directors awarded $30.4 million in Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds to address long-term housing needs in parishes impacted by the 2016 floods. Funding will be used to construct or rehabilitate seven multifamily rental properties. The properties are projected to benefit 825 individuals and families across the state.
“Louisiana is still recovering from the devastation caused by the historic floods of 2016,” said LHC Executive Director Keith Cunningham, Jr. “By partnering with the Office of Community Development, we are able to improve the living conditions and lives of working families, seniors, veterans and people with special needs. While this funding will only create a fraction of housing that’s needed, it is another step toward increasing and enhancing Louisiana’s affordable housing stock.”
The Restore Louisiana Piggyback Program is one of several initiatives launched by the LHC and Office of Community Development to help revitalize communities devastated by the floods.
“The Great Floods of 2016 damaged more than 28,000 rental units, intensifying an already serious housing crunch for our low-to-moderate income households,” Office of Community Development Executive Director Pat Forbes said. “Louisiana’s resilient recovery depends on strengthening every aspect of our communities, including affordable rental housing. Combining CDBG funds with $37.2 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credits will provide critically needed energy-efficient affordable housing for our hard-pressed low-to-moderate income families. This program replicates the successful piggyback funding model used by the state to build affordable rental housing after hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike.”
LHC and OCD have awarded funds to:
Valencia Park of Spanish Town, Baton Rouge
• Target Population: Veterans
• Total Development Cost: $21,006,594
CDBG –DR Funds: $5,723,931
• 122 Units
Cypress at Gardere Affordable Senior Housing, Baton Rouge
• Target Population: Seniors
• Total Development Cost: $18,565,353
CDBG –DR Funds: $3,845,000
• 99 Units
Sherwood Oaks, Baton Rouge
• Target Population: Special Needs
• Total Development Cost: $27,689,328
CDBG –DR Funds: $5,989,634
• 248 Units
Progress Park, Baton Rouge
• Target Population: Seniors
• Total Development Cost: $5,537,226
CDBG –DR Funds: $2,638,736
• 48 Units
Cypress Pointe RAD, Bogalusa
• Target Population: Family
• Total Development Cost: $14,868,818
CDBG –DR Funds: $4,579,878
• 112 Units
Hammond Eastside, Hammond
• Target Population: Veterans
• Total Development Cost: $4,904,059
CDBG –DR Funds: $3,090,829
• 28 Units
Ardenwood Mixed-Income MF Apartments, Baton Rouge
• Target Population: Family
• Total Development Cost: $26,420,079
CDBG –DR Funds: $4,570,309
• 168 Units
In partnership with the OCD, nearly $140 million has been made available to rehabilitate rental housing in flood-impacted communities.
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About Louisiana Housing Corporation
The Louisiana Housing Corporation was created by Act 408 of the 2011 Louisiana Legislative Session. The Corporation administers federal and state funds through programs designed to advance the development of safe, energy-efficient and affordable housing for low-to-moderate income families.
Hammers and nails are drowning out the silent sound of blight in one area of the city that’s needed rehab for a while.
Partners Southeast, a local affordable housing company, in conjunction with the city of Baton Rouge is building affordable, single-family homes, duplexes, and lofts in the Old South Baton Rouge area. More than fifty units are planned and construction is progressing along.
River South developments – 46 homes and duplexes – are scattered throughout the Old South Baton Rouge community. Another project, Cypress Lofts, will have 19 units along Oklahoma Street. The projects’ total cost is about $11 million dollars.
Developers are using federal subsidies to facilitate the rebirth of the area.
“It starts at the federal level. The IRS issues federal low-income houses tax credits. Louisiana Housing Corporation has been a valuable partner in issuing us credits for our project,” said J. Daniels, Chief Operating Officer of Partners Southeast.
Alvin Sterling, a Baton Rouge native, lives in Old South Baton Rouge and describes the new homes as a facelift for his neighborhood.
“It’ll probably strengthen security because anybody that’s going to pay for something [new], they’re going to want to be secure in their neighborhood and their homes,” he said. He expects more patrols, too, since more people might be moving into the area.
“We want Old South Baton Rouge to be representative of the entire community which is why we have a mixed income. It’ll have all the way from market rate units…to affordable and low-income units,” Daniels said.
Projects are expected to be complected in December 2018 and January 2019.
Year Completed
Planned Fall 2022
Type
Senior | Units: 99
Management
Integral Property Management
Phone
225-923-8121
501 Gardere Lane, Baton Rouge, LA 70810
Located behind St. Jude off Highland Road, close to great shopping and restaurants this tranquil and modern new construction community offers modern one- and two-bedroom apartments for seniors 62 years and older. Apartments are ADA compliant and come with a dishwasher and washer and dryer hook-up. Amenities include an exercise room, computer room, elevators, community room, walking trail, community garden, small gathering/reading rooms on each floor and social, health, wellness, and educational activities programmed for active seniors.