Workers were putting final touches on the first phase of Woodring Apartments in Downtown Lake Charles on Friday. More housing availability in Lake Charles is good news. Quality, mixed-income housing built to the new Fortified Gold standards is even better news.

Phase one will offer 70 apartments, including 58 multi-family units at 401 Division St. and 12 units in a townhouse building located at 610 Hodges.

Twenty-one units have already been rented, three were moved into this past weekend.     

“The close proximity to all of the jobs and neighborhood amenities of the downtown make for a walkable community that we are confident will further spur investment in the downtown area,” said Josh Collen, president, HRI Communities.

Mixed-income can mean different things, depending on funding sources, according to Collen.

“For Woodring Apartments, we have a mixture of 21 market rate units, eight moderate income units, 75 workforce housing and 14 deeply affordable units,” Collen said.

“The multi-family building will not be completed until the end of October. The 40 units in Phase II, which are located in two L-shaped townhouse buildings along Mill Street are scheduled to be completed in December.”

A “Completion Celebration” is scheduled after the holidays in January.

Meanwhile, on Lake and 18th…

Also on Friday, HRI Communities announced that they have closed on the development of the future of Mid-City Lofts, also a mixed-income built to “gold” standards property at the corner of 18th and Lake Streets.

The $18 million new build property will consist of a 46-unit, three-story, disaster-resilient building and serve as the first phase of the Mid-City Choice Neighborhoods Transformation with scheduled completion in late 2025.

“News of the imminent start of construction for the Mid-City Lofts is exciting,” Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter was quoted as saying in a news release from HRI. “HRI Communities has already made significant investments into expanding attainable housing in the city through their Woodring Apartments. Their transformation of another long-vacant lot will kick start the Mid-City Choice Neighborhoods Transformation. Thanks to a $40 million HUD Choice Neighborhood initiative grant and additional public and private investment, this is yet another area in Lake Charles that is seeing generational change. We are proud of the work being accomplished through private-public partnerships in our community.”

HRI Communities was awarded a $3.5 million PRIME 3 Program loan that will be administered by Louisiana Housing Corporation (LHC) and sourced with Disaster Recovery Community Development Block Grant Funds from the Louisiana Office of Community Development. LHC also provided a competitive allocation of $15 million of 9% Housing Tax Credits that generate equity investment in the development.