Lake Charles, LA —Friday, June 2nd 2023, Louisiana Housing Corporation (LHC) celebrated the groundbreaking of a new multi-family apartment complex meant to house mixed-income families. Woodring Apartments will have 110 units for workforce housing and will revitalize Downtown Lake Charles. LHC awarded $1.5 million in 9% Low Income Housing Tax Credit, generating over $13 million in equity. LHC also awarded a second mortgage of $10 million from the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds (CDBG-DR) for just Phase 1 of the Woodring Apartments. “To create more affordable and resilient housing while rebuilding Southwest Louisiana, I’m proud that we will have additional housing opportunities for the people of Calcasieu Parish,” said LHC Executive Director Joshua Hollins. “The resiliency features in this new complex will allow residents to feel secure and safe while providing stability for families and individuals to prosper in their community.”
Phase 1 of Woodring Apartments will start construction soon, with 58 multi-family housing units in a 12-unit townhouse totaling 70 apartments. This development will revitalize a vacant area with 49 affordable/workforce housing units and 21 market-rate units. Once finished, Phase 1 of Woodring Apartments expects to open in the Summer of 2024.
Phase 2 of the complex will be similar. LHC separately awarded $8 million of CDBG-DR in the recent PRIME 2 round, including another 40 units that will close in the Summer of 2023. Within the 40 units, two units will be set aside as 30% area median income (AMI), but 20% AMI rents with 811 vouchers. Four units will fall under 30% AMI, but eight units will be set aside as 50% AMI. 18 units will be under 60% AMI, and eight will be set aside at 80% AMI.
PRIME is a competitive program under CDBG-DR and, through its design, requires housing to feature important disaster-resilience characteristics and requires mixed-income housing with either (a) market-rate units and LIHTC units affordable to households with incomes at or below 60% AMI or (b) LIHTC units averaging affordability at or below 60% AMI.
The recent devastation of past hurricanes left the community of Lake Charles to rebuild. It's why all LHC projects, like the Woodring Apartments, will be built to a certain standard to withstand hurricane winds and flooding. The making of Woodring Apartments falls under FORTIFIED Gold standards, and it is Enterprise Green rated, meaning the structure is disaster resilient. LHC focuses on hardening building techniques to ensure homes are sturdy and energy efficient and aims to mitigate hurricane damage. “Suffering through the consecutive landfalls of major Hurricanes Laura and Delta, thousands of Lake Charles residents remain displaced from their homes due to devastating damage across the area,” said HRI Communities President Josh Collen. “We are thrilled to break ground on this tremendous new development which will offer the most resilient apartment homes possible in a beautiful, amenity-rich community that blends in with the surrounding downtown and preserves the existing mature live oaks on this underutilized block.”
The location of this development will allow residents to be close to other attractions in Downtown Lake Charles, making it walkable. People who work downtown will now have the option of living in an affordable space while also being close to their place of employment. “The Woodring Apartments are a welcome addition to Downtown Lake Charles, which plays a vital and unique role in our community's economic and cultural fabric,” said Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter. "Downtown Lake Charles serves as a connector for our city and a hub for commercial, cultural, and civic activity. Walkability is desirable for many, so adding these new residential units is critical to continued growth in this area. We are thrilled to see the start of construction and cannot wait to welcome more residents to Downtown Lake Charles.”
Outside the apartment complex, ample green space will feature existing oak trees. Those who live in Woodring Apartments will also have access to several amenities, such as off-street parking, a community center, a fitness center, a rain garden, and a grilling and picnic area for families.
The developer of Woodring Apartments is HRI Communities, LLC, and will be the long-term property management company. HCI Architecture, Inc. serves as the architect for both phases of the apartment complex. Boston Capital is the permanent first mortgage lender, the construction leader is Capital One, and the Tas Credit Syndicator is Hudson Housing Capital. The contractor of the complex is Impetus Construction.
For more information, visit: HRI Properties
Interested residents can call: (504) 566-0204
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