Neighborhood Development Foundation, a New Orleans-based home ownership services provider, lost its headquarters in Hurricane Katrina and expressed interest in relocating to Central City. Together, NDF and GCHP advanced the idea of acquiring an entire city block to both house NDF’s facility and a surrounding home ownership community. GCHP targeted a vacant corner grocery store and several adjacent vacant properties for acquisition. GCHP assembled the site, financed all pre-development and acquisition costs, and then served as project manager for the substantial renovation and conversion of the vacant grocery store into NDF’s headquarters– an effort that was completed in December 2009.
That same month, GCHP completed the sale of the parcels that surround NDF’s new headquarters to Jericho Road Episcopal Housing Initiative, a community-based nonprofit affordable home builder in Central City. By year’s end 2012, Jericho Road, in partnership with Hope Enterprise Corporation, completed the construction of 13 homes. All of the homes have sold.
