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As the lead developer for Rivana Apartments, we’re excited to move forward with the next step to bring affordable housing and a sense of community to the riverfront area! Strong communities are paramount to Providence’s mission to transform lives and communities through the development, preservation, and management of affordable homes while connecting seniors, individuals, and families to opportunities that enhance their quality of life.

Article below published by Times-Picayune

By Rich Collins

The River District neighborhood reached a significant milestone this week when the developers of the 220-unit Rivana Apartments closed on financing that paves the way for construction to begin on the $111 million complex later this month.

The deal, which was finalized Wednesday, will bring a second major building to the planned community just upriver from the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, where a new regional headquarters for oil giant Shell has been under construction since early 2025. The project will also serve as a visible sign of progress for an ambitious, $1 billion mixed-use development slated for 40 acres of unused land near the banks of the Mississippi River.

“The significance of this week’s closing is hard to overstate,” said Brian Gibbs, one of the Rivana’s developers, in a phone interview Thursday. “Having a new building built next to the Shell headquarters with retail and a park all helps paint the picture that this thing is rolling.”

The financial closing means the project’s lead contractor, Gibbs Construction, can begin fencing off the site in the 1400 block of Tchoupitoulas Street before workers prepare to drive pilings. The construction is expected to take just under two years to complete.

Units in the four-story building will be reserved for individuals making at or below 80% of area median income, so $49,650 a year or less. It will also have 17,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, a fitness center, a community room and a swimming pool.

“The energy around the River District is growing, and people have a reason now to come see what’s happening,” said Jim Cook, president and CEO of the Convention Center, which owns the vacant land it hopes to turn into a vibrant mixed-use neighborhood.

Complicated financing

For more than a decade, the Convention Center has wanted to create a new neighborhood of residences, hotels, shops and entertainment venues on former industrial property originally earmarked for additional meeting space.

Tourism and business leaders have said the project is essential to help New Orleans stay competitive in the meetings and hospitality sector. Yet, while other cities have built lively walkable districts near their convention halls, the Convention Center has struggled to develop its sprawling riverfront property.

Now, officials say, the project appears to be coming to fruition.

“I’m excited to see housing and neighborhood-serving retail come to the site, and I’m encouraged by the momentum we’re seeing across the River District,” District B Councilmember Lesli Harris said Thursday.

The Rivana developers had to put together a complex financing deal to make the project work, as rising interest rates and ongoing inflation created challenges.

The project will be funded by a combination of public and private sources, with Providence Community Housing — a local nonprofit that joined the development group earlier this year — owning 51% of the project and members of the River District developers’ Rivana team owning the other 49%.

Among the public sources of money are Low Income Housing Tax Credits, a Community Development Block Grant, a $6.5 million loan from the Convention Center and a $6.2 million loan from the city for infrastructure work.

Earlier this year, the project also secured a 40-year property tax break from the City Council that could equal $30 million over the four-decade life of the incentive, and the Housing Authority of New Orleans is providing project-based vouchers to help cover part of the rent for 25% of the units.

On the private side, the project will be financed with bank debt and equity contributions from the developers.

“It’s a complicated capital stack in general and there were some macro challenges that also created headwinds, but we were able to do it,” said Shawn Barney, a member of the Rivana development team. “The 10-year treasury yield is the highest it’s been since 2002, so it makes doing projects like this historically challenging, because that’s what our permanent debt is tied to.”

‘Energy is growing’

The start of construction on the Rivana will be a welcome site in the River District, where Shell’s nearly finished headquarters building is currently the only structure towering over acres of empty land. But the developers say a lot of progress has been made on the site at the ground level.

Roughly $33 million has been spent installing water lines, underground power, fiber optic cable, drainage and a stormwater retention tank in the neighborhood. The Convention Center, with some contributions from the RDNI developers, funded the infrastructure work, which is scheduled to wrap up by the beginning of next year.

Workers also will extend well-known Lower Garden District streets into the development zone, where six additional parcels are essentially a blank canvas waiting for the developers and their investors to create something new.

A planned Top Golf project for the section of the district on the lake side of Tchoupitoulas was scrapped last year because of years of delays and the opening of a rival facility in another part of town, and developers are considering other uses for the property.

There are also plans to build a music museum in the district. The Louisiana Legislature allocated funds to that project last year.