Archdiocese of New Orleans Expands Seniors Housing Network

By Eliza Theiss, Associate Editor

Rouquette IV

Cristopher Homes Inc. has cleared another road stop on the way to building a new seniors housing community in Slidell.  According to The Times-Picayune, the Slidell City Council annexed a 12-acre site fronting US 190/Gause Boulevard West to Slidell city limits and changed the zoning from highway commercial (HC2-2) to high-density urban (A-8). The developers plan to enlarge the water line servicing the site, which could help Slidell with future annexations in the area.

According to The Times-Picayune, the 75-unit senior living complex will take up three acres of the site, leaving the remaining nine acres of wetlands untouched. The Archdiocese of New Orleans will run the housing complex upon completion. Developers have been pursuing the annexation for two years.

Developer Cristopher Homes is a subsidiary of the Archdiocese and has developed a bevy of housing projects, several of which are multi-phase. Cristopher Homes, which describes itself as a provider of “affordable housing for seniors and low-income families for more than 40 years,” is the premier manager of affordable seniors housing in the Gulf Area. Prior to Katrina, the Archdiocese’s housing agency managed 25 properties with more than 2,500 HUD-subsidized seniors housing units and a 200-unit HUD-subsidized family housing facility. According to its website, Cristopher Homes now manages 16 apartment complexes totaling 1,953 units and houses elderly and special needs adults.

Among the holdings of Cristopher Homes and the Archdiocese of New Orleans is the 66-unit Rouquette IV seniors housing facility in Mandeville, La. Expected to open this year and designed by Holly & Smith Architects, the new three-story facility is set to replace a building in St. Bernard Parish that was demolished due to extensive damage suffered during Hurricane Katrina. The project received FEMA funding.

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Image credit: Holly & Smith Architects