Iberville Redevelopment
HANO and the city received a
$30.5 million Choice Neighborhoods Initiative grant in 2011 from HUD to
redevelop Iberville, the last standing conventional public housing development
in the city, and the surrounding Iberville-Treme community. More than 2,400
mixed-income units are planned, including one-for-one replacement of the 821
public housing units, on site and off site.
More than 300 blocks are estimated to be revitalized, with a price tag of approximately $600 million for the full plan, according to HANO.
“HANO and the city saw this part of downtown poised for revival and revitalization,” says Josh Collen, vice president of development for local developer HRI Properties, which is a key partner on the initiative.
To develop the Iberville site in the 1940s, Collen says the street grid was removed from the 23-acre portion of the city and an inward-looking development was created, becoming isolated and suffering from concentrated poverty. One of the first items the stakeholder group agreed on was to reintegrate the street grid, creating 10 new city blocks.
The housing on nine of the 10 city blocks has been financed and is under way, with all infrastructure to be completed by the end of the year.
Sixteen of the historic buildings on the site are being retained and restored. “These are three-story brick walk-ups with beautiful iron work—lovely buildings from the 1940s,” says Collen. “They had fallen into disrepair, but the structures are historic gems.”
The remainder of the on-site housing is a mix of new construction building types, such as townhouses and four-story multifamily buildings.
The first two phases of housing on the site, 227 units in a mix of renovated historic buildings and new construction, celebrated its grand opening Aug. 28. The third phase, another 105 apartments, is 40% complete.
One of HRI’s first off-site phases was the renovation of the historic Texaco Building into the 112-unit Marais Apartments for seniors 62 and older. The $35 million renovation was completed in May 2014.
“The renovation scope had to meet
National Park Service standards. It needed to look like 1950 and needed to meet
2014 energy and green requirements as well as the current building code
requirements,” says Collen. “The result is beautiful from the outside. Inside
there are brand-new window views from the 17-story building. The seniors have
an amazing place to live.”