Copyright Baton Rouge Advocate
It’s a project that’s exceeded the terms of three mayors and three governors. On what was previously undeveloped land, a neighborhood is budding, buoyed by a $400 million investment from public and private partners over the span of the past decade. Cypress at Ardendale, an intergenerational community off North Ardenwood Drive and the latest component of the Ardendale development, has established its footprint after opening its first phase of 170 family housing units last month. Developer Partners Southeast just closed on the financing for the second phase of the neighborhood, Cypress at Ardendale Senior. The $25 million, 70-unit senior living community will start leasing beginning next year. Cypress at Ardendale Senior will be a four-story building with one-bedroom apartments and an income-based leasing structure, for seniors earning up to 60% of the area median income. The senior component of the Ardendale neighborhood intends to integrate residents age 62 and up with younger generations so they can age with dignity and in place. J. Wesley Daniels, CEO of Partners Southeast and East Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority, said the senior residents can act as mentors for the families in the neighborhood. A planned YWCA early childhood center will create a “full circle” environment where a resident could go through every phase of their life in the community. “Between the YWCA, the senior community and that family community, we've really closed the gap, unfilled gaps here in the Baton Rouge area and connecting the dots as it relates to intergenerational interaction,” he said. Daniels said the initial phase of Ardendale is about 20% to 25% leased and projects that the community will be fully occupied by spring. Units in Cypress at Ardendale range in size from one to four bedrooms and rates are set at market and affordable rates, with the highest at $2,500 per month. “Families are flocking to Ardendale,” Daniels said. A long time coming Ardendale was planned to combat past disinvestment in North Baton Rouge, which Daniels said spurred from a poor perception of the area. But he believes the development has changed that. “Instead of moving an entire ZIP code to higher opportunity areas, we've created a high opportunity area by rooting it in educational assets,” Daniels said. Conversations about a mixed-use development in the Ardendale neighborhood started more than a decade ago. With a 200-acre site north of Florida Boulevard, city-parish officials concocted a four-phase plan to turn the Smiley Heights, Melrose East and East Fairfield neighborhoods, which included EBRPHA property Ardenwood Village, into an “urban village” with housing, retail and education centers. Linking North Ardenwood Drive and Lobdell Boulevard, the two-lane street will open up access to Cypress at Ardendale along with nearby developments and relieve congestion on parallel streets. The 0.3-mile road was planned with the broader MOVEBR plan, a road improvement plan with more than 70 projects funded by sales tax revenue. The connector will include bike lanes and sidewalks on each side. Partners Southeast roots their developments in education because it is the “pathway out of poverty,” Daniels said. The emergence of educational centers in the area helped confirm the prospect of investment in Ardendale, he said. The BRCC Automotive Training Center was the first phase of the Ardendale development to break ground, opening in 2017. “Those were pivotal moments to tell everyone that was interested that this area of town was open for business, and they were the vanguard leaders and to lead in this transformation,” he said. Plans for a YWCA center have been in the works since the inception of the Ardendale plan. More than 90% of the heads of households in parish public housing are women, YWCA Baton Rouge CEO Dianna Payton said, and the facility will support current public housing residents and those transitioning to new housing. The center will provide childcare as well as services for parents such as case management, workforce development and networking events to meet other families. “In order to help make families whole, we recognize that many times, it's not just the early learning needs of that child, but looking at the entire household,” Payton said. YWCA Baton Rouge is working with Build Baton Rouge to finalize the land acquisition for the upcoming facility. Payton expects it to open in about two years. Looking ahead With phase one of Cypress at Ardendale a quarter full, Daniels is confident there’s a market for the remaining phases. Partners Southeast is expecting to close on phase four by the first quarter of 2026 and phase three by the third quarter of 2026. Both phases will consist of family and workforce housing with the same leasing structure as phase one and are expected to wrap by 2027. Once complete, the four-phase development will have 432 units and amenities including a gym, business center and green spaces. Daniels said he hopes the Ardendale development can be replicated in other disinvested areas in the Capital Region. With the investment of public and private partners in the projects, the project symbolizes a unity in recognizing the area's need for transformation.
