HOUSING AUTHORITY OF NEW ORLEANS BOARD APPROVES FIRMS TO PLAN THE REDEVELOPMENT OF ST. BERNARD, C.J. PEETE, B.W. COOPER

NEW ORLEANS - A collaboration of experienced, mixed-income housing developers and local non-profits organizations have been selected to plan the redevelopment of New Orleans' damaged public housing communities at St. Bernard, C.J. Peete and B.W. Cooper. The announcement was made today at the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) board meeting.

"Secretary Jackson has said that every family who wants to come home to New Orleans should be given the opportunity to come back to quality housing in safe neighborhoods," said C. Donald Babers, the HUD-appointed HANO Board. "We believe these teams can make it happen. Each of these teams have a solid track-record of developing mixed-income housing communities and working well with residents."

HANO approved the following teams to begin planning the redevelopment of the public housing properties.

• Planning the redevelopment of St. Bernard will be a partnership team that includes the Fore! Kids Foundation, Columbia Residential and the Baton Rouge Area Foundation
  
  
• An alliance of firms will partner under the name Central City Partners will plan the redevelopment of C.J. Peete, The partners - McCormack Baron Salazar and KAI Design & Build - will form Peete Redevelopment LLC, to partner with the New Orleans Neighborhood Development Collaborative.
  
  KBK will partner with B.W. Cooper Resident Management Corporation to plan the redevelopment of B.W. Cooper.

These developer teams were selected from a pool of qualified firms that responded to three separate requests for qualifications (RFQs) that HANO issued last October. The three highest ranked teams were selected from a total of 11 different applicants, with some teams proposing for more than one site. In addition to demonstrating technical and financial capacity, the teams were required to show their experience in the development of multi-family, mixed-income communities using complex financing strategies, involving funding sources such as Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. Each team was also required to demonstrate evidence of their ability to integrate community and supportive services into the development and management of mixed-income communities.

HUD announced in June 2006 that it would redevelop C.J. Peete, B.W. Cooper, Lafitte and St. Bernard, to make way for revitalized mixed-income communities that would include public housing, affordable market-rate housing as well as market-rate single-family homes. This concept of affordable housing has eliminated concentrations of poverty in cities like Atlanta, Washington, D.C. and Boston. These four public housing communities suffered moderate to severe damage rendering a majority of them uninhabitable.

In August last year, HUD approved a public-private alliance between HANO, Providence Community Housing and Enterprise Community Partners to plan the redevelopment of the Lafitte public housing property. This will include providing more affordable housing opportunities in the surrounding Treme, Tulane and Gravier neighborhoods. For nearly a year, the partners have worked closely with Lafitte residents and community leaders to plan the new community.

For more information about the selected firms see the attached Fact Sheet

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