BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — The YMCA is building the first building of its kind in the area. The organization wants to help bring more housing opportunities by building new apartments on South Foster Drive.
“I think it’s a huge improvement for District 7,” cheered LaMont Cole, Mayor Pro-Tem, District 7.
The YMCA is planning on building a 100-unit apartment complex in Mid-City. Their goal is to help working-class families have more affordable housing options. The YMCA building will be a two-story building and it will solely be the YMCA, the four-story apartments will reside on the same property but will not be part of the YMCA facility. “We’re also using the property to create housing for people who are in the workforce. So really it’s an opportunity for us to get a more modern YMCA and a new updated YMCA,” explained Christian Engle, President/CEO, YMCA.
Engle says the apartment complex will have one, two, and three-bedroom apartments. The YMCA will have a steam room, babysitting, and other luxury accommodations. The project is part of the State’s Workforce Housing initiative. The apartments are geared toward those who fall in 80% of the Average Median Income for the area. Councilman Lamont Cole believes this development will breathe new life into the area.
“And following on the tails of this particular development, we can hope we see increased developments and so people would be able to come home and walk to the grocery store because Albertson’s is right next door. There are a number of restaurants in the area and then have access to the health care facility,” he continued.
This development is the first of its kind in Louisiana and this model will be used in several other cities around the United States. Construction on this site will begin in the next few months, with the building being ready to be moved into next year.
The YMCA CEO says that they are already talking about building more of these apartment complexes around the state.
