Bayou Grande Apartments Grand Opening

The long-awaited Bayou Grande apartments at 961 Caddo Street opened its doors to the community today, to show off our newest option in downtown living! Over the past couple of years, there have been a lot of questions about what was being built at the corner of Common and Caddo Streets downtown, but the efforts to bring the upscale housing predate the construction by nearly a decade.

For ten years, the city’s department of Community Development labored to write grants and solidify plans and partnerships. Small Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grants followed, but in 2018, the planning and work paid off when a call from HUD alerted the city that it had become one of just 40 in the nation to be awarded a Choice Neighborhood grant. Community Development chief Bonnie Moore was thrilled, but had hoped for more. She and her partners got to work on not only matching the $24m, but far exceeding it, raising $140 million in additional investments so far.

This first phase of the residential project will eventually include 328 units. Phases I and II consist of 68 mixed-income units each. Phase III will be 122 mixed-income units, with completion anticipated in early 2023. The designed square footage of the units ranges from 750 – 1300 sf with planned rents between $718 – $1184. Phase IV is a 70-unit building for seniors. Each of the phases will include a mix of federally subsidized units, unsubsidized affordable units, and unrestricted market rate units, but each of the units will include the same lengthy list of amenities, from a club room and business office space to high speed Internet, washers and dryers in each unit, stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, a dog park area, playground and more.

Bobby Collins, the head of the Housing Authority of the City of Shreveport (HCAS), says Bayou Grande is going to ‘change the face of affordable housing’ in Shreveport. Over the next 36 months, he says, all of the HCAS’ housing in the city will be either newly developed (upgraded) or newly constructed. But the focus today was on downtown and the newest housing to open its doors.

“Bayou Grande is going to bring hundreds of people to downtown,” Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins told the assembled crowd. The density, he said, is key to a vibrant and thriving city center.

Throughout the grand opening, the focus returned to conversation of not a house, but a home–a place where people can be safe, live and thrive. The goal of Choice Neighborhoods is to provide supportive services to to encourage that to any tenant who needs them; to help with education, training and employment in an environment that is safe, energy efficient and affordable to all salary levels. Collins emphasized that the people living in Bayou Grande will be employed in all types of jobs; they will be workers who bring value to our community and add to our local economy.

Also under construction is 5,000SF of retail space in a prime location on the corner of Caddo and Common. We will have more information about completion dates, rental space and sizes soon.

In the meantime, we are pleased to welcome these new residents to downtown, where they will find a huge variety of events to participate in and enjoy. We hope to see them at things that range from artwalks and festivals to gallery openings and receptions. There’s outdoor fun, too, at Caddo Common Park and the Shreveport Riverfront and many spots in-between. We know our stores and eateries will put out the red carpet as downtown grows and we welcome our new friends and neighbors.

 

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Original story- July 2021

The Bayou Grande, Shreveport’s federally-funded mixed-income Choice Neighborhood, is coming together at the corner of Common and Caddo Streets. Planned opening of the first phase of housing is late 2021, and a pre-wait application list is available for those interested in obtaining vouchers for the new units. Persons interested in Affordable (work force) or market rate units should email here.

Bayou Grande’s Facebook page says that the new downtown community will include modern amenities, open floor plans, and 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom apartments, a resort-style pool, dog park, fitness center and cyber cafe. The units range in size from 790 to 1100 SF. One BR units will range in price from $671 to $800, 2 BR range from $805 to $900, 3 BR from $930-$1190. All units are said to be available for move-in on Dec. 1, 2o21. The mixed-income development will be managed by a company called ITEX based in Houston, Tex. 

The Bayou Grande is one of several phases of the Choice Neighborhood which is to include residential and commercial space to be built in Ledbetter Heights and Allendale.