NEW ORLEANS-The Domain Cos. has started construction on two new apartment complexes, totaling 411 units, after arranging $100 million of financing through a combination of tax credits and bank lending. The projects, the Preserve and the Crescent Club, are the first two developments in New Orleans for Domain, which describes them as crucial to the revitalization of the Tulane-Mid City Corridor.
The 228-unit Crescent Club will occupy the former Crescent City Motors site and the 183-unit Preserve will occupy the site of the former Baumer Foods plant, a landmark in New Orleans. Both sites were severely flooded during Hurricane Katrina.
The Domain projects will feature apartments of one and two bedrooms, which are slated for occupancy beginning in third quarter 2008. Domain officials also plan to close financing and commence construction on a third project, a 72-unit complex at 750 S. Jefferson Davis Pkwy., in late summer.
Domain closed on the $100 million in financing for the two developments late last week, according to Matthew Schwartz and Chris Papamichael, partners and founders of the company, which is based in New Orleans and New York City.
Schwartz says planning for the developments involved working closely with the communities surrounding their sites. He and Papamichael are "Tulane University graduates who love New Orleans" and are "committed to developments that advance the city's recovery," he says.
Schwartz notes the Unified New Orleans Plan, the city's road map for recovery from Hurricane Katrina, identified the Tulane Avenue corridor as an important part of its rebuilding and progress. "Mixed-income housing is a critical component in the successful redevelopment of this area," he says.
The Domain spokesman tells GlobeSt.com that the company's developments in New Orleans will be aimed at "shoring up and stabilizing entire neighborhoods" as opposed to just focusing on an individual project or projects. The Domain Cos. has begun acquiring vacant property and flooded homes around the Preserve and Crescent Club, where it plans to build "for sale" homes on the lots for first-time homebuyers, he says.
The $100 million in financing for the two new complexes included a variety of sources. Centerline Capital Group, a New York City-headquartered real estate finance and investment company, provided $36.9 million in equity in the syndication of housing tax credits allocated through the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency and $19.2 million in permanent financing through Freddie Mac. Bank of America will provide $19.2 million in construction financing. The balance of the funding is coming from the Louisiana Office of Community Development through the federal Community Development Block Grant Program, Industrial Development Board of the City of New Orleans and the developers.
Domain's apartment projects will feature interior courtyards with a swimming pool, interior clubhouses and entertainment areas, business center with high-speed Internet, fitness center, interior parking for every unit, security monitoring and evening security patrol. Unit amenities will include washing machines and dryers in each unit, nine-foot ceilings and high-speed wireless Internet and cable.
Architecture and design for all developments has been done by Humphreys & Partners Architects LP of Dallas, with locally based Gibbs Construction to serve as general contractor. HRI Management will be the property manager.
The Domain spokesman says the Preserve apartments will restore the Baumer Foods sign to the city, incorporating it atop the complex. Baumer is now operating elsewhere in New Orleans, but preserving the sign and incorporating it into the new apartments "is a way of preserving an icon that is probably etched in the mind of every local person in New Orleans," he says.
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