Worksite preparation begins today for Gardere-area ‘Katrina cottages’

• By CHRIS GAUTREAU
• Advocate business writer
• Published: Feb 2, 2009 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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After more than two years of bureaucratic delays that have at times drawn harsh criticism for the state, work is set to start today in Baton Rouge on a housing program for residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

The Louisiana Recovery Authority said site clearing will begin for 42 “Katrina cottages” planned for the Hidden Cove neighborhood south of Gardere Lane.

Paul Rainwater, LRA executive director, said that under recent approvals from the federal government, 19 cottages will be built on Elvin Drive, four will go on Pascagoula, two will go on Martinique Drive, 11 on St. Croix Avenue and six on Bimini Drive.

“We’re going to have dozers out there … turning ground,” Rainwater said last week. “We’re hoping to start housing construction in about a week-and-a-half — it might be a little bit later.”

FEMA awarded a $74.5 million grant in December 2006 to Cypress Realty Partners, a private firm in Washington, D.C., to build 500 of the specially designed homes in a pilot program for post-disaster housing.

The 42 homes going under construction today in Hidden Cove are part of those 500 homes. The general contractor will be Block Builders in Baton Rouge.

The homes, also available in kit form through Lowe’s home improvement stores, range from 612 square feet with two bedrooms to 1,112 square feet with up to three bedrooms.

Ben Dupuy, of Cypress Realty, described the homes Friday as small but efficiently designed, attractive housing.

The cottages are built with steel framing, fiber-cement siding resistant to rot, mold and termites, and energy-saving windows engineered to withstand 140 mph winds, Dupuy said.

Cypress Partners, which has offices in Baton Rouge and several Louisiana natives as principals, is about halfway through a separate project to build 13 Katrina cottages in Cypress Park near Terrace and 18th Street.

The $1.5 million project is part of efforts to revitalize the Old South Baton Rouge Neighborhood. Through a partnership with Mid City Redevelopment Alliance and Capital One, qualified buyers of Cypress Park homes can get financial assistance and below-market interest rates.

Dupuy said the homes, which could be complete by August, are all built with energy-saving appliances, including refrigerators, dishwashers, microwave ovens and ceiling fans.

Rainwater credited Cypress Park as proof that the housing program can work and that Dupuy’s company is capable of building the homes.