By BETH DONZE
Clarion Herald

Providence Community Housing and two Catholic entities – Blessed Trinity Parish and Christopher Homes, Inc. – publicly announced plans today to redevelop the former Our Lady of Lourdes School in Uptown New Orleans into 62 affordable one-bedroom and studio rental apartments for low-income seniors.

The new senior residence, to be named the Our Lady of Lourdes Apartments, will be managed and have its residential services coordinated by Christopher Homes, the affordable housing arm of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The facility, located at Napoleon Avenue and Freret Street, hopes to welcome its first residents by early 2023.

“At the invitation of the parishioners of Blessed Trinity and the community, Providence will help fill the critical need for affordable housing in this vibrant neighborhood,” said Terri North, president and CEO of Providence Community Housing, a 501(c)3 nonprofit real estate development organization that has preserved and produced more than 1,600 units of affordable rental housing since Hurricane Katrina and sold 100 homes to low- to moderate-income families throughout the Greater New Orleans area. 

“Providence is proud to transform this viable property that has sat dormant for far too long into homes designed for seniors and their unique needs,” North said. “The property is ideally situated along the Freret Street corridor with access to transportation, groceries, healthcare and other quality of life amenities suited to seniors.”

Residence will retain ‘school spirit’

The property is being leased to Providence by its owner, Blessed Trinity Parish, the Catholic faith community formed through the post-Katrina merger of Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Matthias and St. Monica parishes and based just over a mile away at the former St. Matthias Church on South Broad.

Providence, in conjunction with Trapolin-Peer Architects of New Orleans, will undertake a historically sensitive renovation of Our Lady of Lourdes’ 1957-built school building, a blond brick, mid-century modern-style structure bounded by Napoleon Avenue, Freret and Jena streets. The redevelopment will respect the architectural integrity and “school feel” of the building while reconfiguring its 22 classrooms, cafeteria, convent and combination auditorium-gymnasium into apartments, retaining original features such as terrazzo marble floors, chalk boards, aluminum staircase railings and glazed, brick-tile walls in mid-century hues of pink, beige, seafoam green and aqua.


Jena extension will add units

Studio apartments at the residence will range from 450 to 500 square feet, while one-bedroom units will offer 630 to 700 square feet of interior space.

In addition to carving 44 residential units out of the existing school building, a three-story addition attached to the Jena Street facade will provide 18 new apartments. The clever addition, which mimics the lines of the original school, will also feature a third-floor terrace available to all residents.

The site’s largest interior space – the auditorium-gym – will be used as a meeting space for residents and members of the community, while keeping its pine flooring and unique aluminum-framed windows crowned by glass blocks. While the bleachers on the Jena Street side of the gym will be removed to make way for administrative offices and two residential units, the bleachers on the Napoleon Avenue side will remain in place, as will the auditorium stage and its folding wooden partition.

In line with Providence’s commitment to making its properties meet “Enterprise Green Communities” standards – a green building program designed explicitly for affordable housing – energy-saving features will include ceiling fans, blinds, high-efficiency water heaters and appliances, individually controlled thermostats in each apartment and a HERS-rated HVAC system. Other features will include a stormwater management system incorporated beneath the site’s 38-space parking lot, ADA access at all entries, a business center and indoor and outdoor gathering areas.

‘Deeply affordable’ rental option

All 62 of the residential units will be set aside for qualifying-seniors (ages 62 and older) who earn at or below 50% of the Area Median Income (AMI) – an annual income of about $25,000 or lower. Residents’ rent will be based on a sliding scale equal to 30% of their income, said Deacon Dennis Adams, executive director of Christopher Homes, the archdiocesan agency that manages and develops more than 2,500 affordable apartments for elderly and disabled residents at 22 properties across the metro area.

“This project (at the former Our Lady of Lourdes School) is bringing Christopher Homes into an area of the city we haven’t been in before,” Deacon Adams said. “It’s not just affordable housing that Christopher Homes provides, but deeply affordable housing. Residents will be able to live here by only paying 30 percent of their income (on rent), so we may very well have some residents living here who will be paying $100 or $120 a month in rent.”

The $28 million project will use both federal and state historic tax credits and a HUD 221(d)(4) loan from Bellwether Enterprise. To secure gap funding for the project, Providence is working with the Finance Authority of New Orleans (FANO) to secure 4% low-income housing tax credits, tax exempt bonds and a payment in lieu of taxes, as well as with area philanthropists.

Served a long line of schools

Although Our Lady of Lourdes School enjoyed its traditional Catholic set-up of being located steps away from its eponymous church, the redevelopment project will not include restoration of the 96-year-old former Our Lady of Lourdes Church and rectory, which are owned by a separate entity. The school building is relatively younger – built in 1957 – and operated as Our Lady of Lourdes Elementary School until its closure in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Upon its renovation after that life-altering storm, the building became the site of a Recovery School District charter school through a lease agreement with the property owner, Blessed Trinity Parish. In the fall of 2012, Holy Rosary Academy and High School relocated to the campus, remaining there until its closure in 2019. Holy Rosary would the campus’ final school-related tenant.

Helping seniors ‘age in place‘

Once the project is completed, Christopher Homes will manage day-to-day operations at Our Lady of Lourdes Apartments and coordinate services to help its residents stay happy, healthy and connected to their community, whether that means helping them find medical services or basic furnishings, Deacon Adams said.

Deacon Adams recalled how thrilled Blessed Trinity parishioners were to learn of the restoration of the school many had attended as children when he and North broke news of the project at Masses on the May 30 Feast of the Holy Trinity. 

“When they looked at the plans, they were excited to see that they could still recognize their school,” Deacon Adams said, noting Our Lady of Lourdes Apartments’ threefold mission of serving Blessed Trinity Parish, the community and addressing social justice issues that enable local seniors to successfully age in place.

“Our residents are living in very dignified and wonderful places throughout the city that people moving into the city now – the younger generations – want to live in,” he said.

Opens up possibility to remain ‘at home’

During a June 22 meeting in the gym acquainting neighbors with the project, Stan Norwood, a lifelong resident and businessman from the Freret Street corridor and president of the Neighbors United residential group, said  he was “deeply moved” that seniors who might otherwise be forced to leave the neighborhood due to skyrocketing rents or an inability to maintain their homes now have another option to remain in their beloved part of New Orleans.

“It’s one thing to move because you want to, but it’s another thing to move because you have to,” Norwood said. “When you can walk around and people say, ‘Hi. How are you doing?’ – These things are very important to people who have lived here for a very long time. This (redevelopment) creates an opportunity for them that’s affordable; that sense of comfort is where it needs to be.”

Joanne Alexander, who began attending Our Lady of Lourdes as a second grader, was feeling a rush of emotions while seated in her old gym bleachers. Proudly displaying her eighth-grade graduation certificate from 1979 – signed by her then-pastor, Bishop Harold Perry, and her principal, Sister Ursula Diassilliss – Alexander said she keeps in touch with her fellow Our Lady of Lourdes “Eagles” through Facebook.

“If nothing was done here (at the shuttered campus), it would be a huge waste of real estate,” Alexander said, pointing to neighborhood amenities such as a recently opened grocery store, easy access to public transit and a walking trail along the Napoleon Avenue neutral ground. “I’m glad this project is going to help the citizens in this community, because this school is a treasure,” Alexander said.

Our Lady of Lourdes Apartments marks the seventh collaboration between Christopher Homes and Providence; the others are St. Ann Square in Treme; St. John Berchmans’ Manor in Gentilly; Deille Inn, Nazareth Inn and Nazareth Inn II in New Orleans East; and Annunciation Inn in Faubourg Marigny.

Following an eight-month pre-development phase, construction is expected to begin early next year and last about 13 months.

Father Bartholomew Chukwuma, pastor of Blessed Trinity Church, summed up his parishioners’ excitement about the pending renaissance at the former school campus.

“Many of the parishioners want this place to be beautiful again,” Father Chukwuma said. “It’s holy ground.”

For the latest information on the Our Lady of Lourdes Apartments project, visit www.ourladyoflourdesapartments.com or email ourladyoflourdes@providencech.org.

bdonze@clarionherald.org