Brown’s Dairy to be redeveloped into affordable housing
19th April 2022 · 0 Comments
By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer
The project developers of a new, $80-million, 210,000-square-foot affordable housing and community health center are hoping the new facility can continue the development and revitalization of the Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard corridor by supporting the neighborhood’s long-held “3 Cs” of goals of culture, commerce and community.
The project, which represents the combined efforts of Gulf Coast Housing Partnership and Alembic Community Development, will be called H3C, a nod to the corridor’s three community principles and the prioritization of health as part of community enhancement efforts.
Alembic director Jonathan Leit said both his organization and GCHP have undertaken development projects in Central City in the past, and the co-developers of H3C view the new project as a continuation of those ongoing efforts, especially with the crucial nature of the location on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard.
“We’ve both done development on the boulevard, and we both saw the importance of that site going into the hands of someone who is doing something positive for the community,” Leit said.
Kathy Laborde, president and CEO of GCHP, offered similar thoughts.
“H3C will complement the existing investments on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard made by GCHP and others,” she said. “In addition, H3C will provide residents with affordable housing and convenient access to healthcare which will encourage and provide the opportunity for better health outcomes.”
The project will be located in Central City at the former site of the Brown’s Dairy processing plant parking lot, located at the intersection of Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard and Erato Street, with buildings fronting Oretha Castle Haley and Baronne.
The facility will feature 192 one-, two- and three-bedroom rental homes built to national green standards, with 92 of the rentals being reserved for residents 55 and older. The development will also place an emphasis on architectural designs that help residents along the aging process and assist mobility, such as prominent walkways and staircases.
A centrally located fitness center and a green courtyard area will also encourage residents to be active. The building will be the first in Louisiana certified as a Fitwel property under a new building rating system developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The new facility will also feature community space anchored by DePaul Community Health Centers, which will offer high-quality, affordable health care services to both H3C residents and members of the community, with emphasis on holistic health based on DePaul’s “Patient-Centered Medical Home Model” and expanded access to individuals and families.
In addition, H3C will feature a community center for wellness and support services operated by Belle Reve, a long-time non-profit in New Orleans that provides adult residential care for people with disabilities, with a focus on those with HIV/AIDS. Belle Reve will help residents make connections with community resources and government social services as a way to address senior residents’ current and future holistic health needs.
Belle Reve Executive Director William Bedwell said his organization’s board of directors recently voted to expand its services to assisting vulnerable populations with affordable, healthy housing while placing an emphasis on protecting residents and other clients with dignity and respect. He added that Belle Reve especially wants to reach out to those in the LGBTQ+ community.
“We wanted (H3C) to service everybody and have people from the community come in,” Bedwell said. “It’s a crossroads. We are just so excited to be this far along, and it gives us time to get the word out.”
Bedwell added that the demand for high-quality residences and holistic health care is ongoing, and as long as that need persists, “we’re going to be there, running these programs for our residents.”
Laborde said all of these health-centric offerings at H3C will encourage positive health outcomes in residents, which will hopefully lead to even more community developments.
“GCHP can quantify those improved health outcomes to result in increased investment in affordable housing for New Orleans and our region,” she said.
A groundbreaking ceremony for H3C took place at the site in March, with city officials joining representatives from Alembic and GCHP, as well as other community supporters. City Councilwoman Lesli Harris, whose district includes Central City, attended the groundbreaking, saying afterwards that H3C has the complete support of city officials.
“This project provides a great opportunity to be a national model for affordable housing and addressing social determinants of health,” Harris said. “Creating dozens of units at varying levels of affordability and providing access to healthcare will prove critical to Central City. As a member of the neighborhood, I know Central City is incredibly diverse and contains a rich cultural history, and a project that honors the needs of community members at all income levels is exciting and exactly what we need.
“I think this project will be a resounding success, not only for residents, but for neighbors who will benefit from having a healthcare center nearby,” she added. “I hope this will be a model for high-quality, accessible affordable housing across District B and around the entire city.”
Harris noted that the project was approved by the City Planning Commission as an Affordable Housing Planned Develop-ment, which allowed the developers to build at an increased density of affordable housing units.
A lack of quality, affordable housing in New Orleans continues to place numerous challenges in locating places to live for members of vulnerable populations like the poor, the disabled, LGBTQ+ residents and seniors, a housing crisis that has increased as a result of the COVID pandemic and spiraling inflation, and housing advocates hope H3C can help alleviate the crisis.
“Rent jumped nearly 20 percent in the New Orleans metro area in just the last year, and that’s before you factor in the dramatic increases we saw after Hurricane Ida,” said Cashauna Hill, executive director of the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center. “Every neighborhood should welcome developments like this, especially those close to jobs and transit. Without new affordable homes, residents will continue to be displaced and New Orleans will end up a hollow shell of the unique city it has always been.”
Laborde noted that with H3C, GCHP current has nine such developments under construction across four states, adding that the Central City New Orleans facility is GCHP’s pilot project under the “Health + Housing” initiative, which she said “combines affordable housing with accessible health care that is funded partially through the support of health-care payors, including Medicaid Managed Care Organizations.”
Alembic’s Leit said H3C is the product of a large joint effort that brought together an array of community organizations and government officials to provides a community gem in a neighborhood that continues its revitalization.
“We came together to purchase the property on a joint mission to build quality affordable housing,” he said. “The need for affordable housing is substantial, and we’re glad to do our part to provide quality housing for the community.”
Leit added that “the inclusion of health services directly on site is definitely critical, and we will serve not just our residents but members of the community as well.”
He said the developers gave a presentation on H3C to the Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard Merchants Association that was well received, showing that the local community recognizes the need for such a facility. He said the merchant’s association has been actively involved in the preparation for H3C, partially because of an anticipated additional benefit to the community of increased foot traffic for business owners in the Oretha Castle Haley corridor, which will hopefully benefit the economic health of the surrounding historic neighborhood.
Bedwell said that although the formal application process for potential H3C residents and health clients hasn’t yet begun, the development team has already heard from people interested in living at the site. He said the goal for a grand opening for H3C is summer 2023 or early autumn 2023, adding that the members of the Central City neighborhood have responded positively to the news of the development.
He added that by offering residences as well as complete health services and a place for the community to gather, H3C will hopefully provide its residents with a well rounded wellness center.
“We wanted to connect all of these [quality of life] dots,” he said. “It will be a community within itself and within a larger community.”
This article originally published in the April 18, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
