[StBernard] DAMN PROVIDENT TAKING OVER THE WORLD WITH "OUR" MONEY

[Westley Annis]

State-Funded Housing Development Holds Grand Opening for Marquis Apartments 

BATON ROUGE, La. - Representatives from the Louisiana Recovery Authority and
the Louisiana Office of Community Development joined with local officials
and developer Provident Realty Advisors in a grand opening ceremony held
Wednesday at the Marquis Apartments in New Orleans.

The Marquis Apartments, located at 2651 Poydras in the mid-city area of New
Orleans, is a new construction, mixed-income housing development that offers
250 rental units - 150 of which are market-rate and 100 of which are
affordable.

To help finance the $58 million project, the developer used $27 million in
Community Development Block Grant money from a pool of federal disaster
recovery funds administered by the LRA/OCD and earmarked for low-to-moderate
income households. The money was "piggybacked" onto equity generated through
the sale of $21.8 million in GO Zone Low Income Housing Tax Credits
administered through the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency.

Paul Rainwater, LRA executive director, said, "Mixed-income communities like
the Marquis Apartments offer residents the much-needed option of quality
workforce housing in neighborhoods that are conveniently located to
transportation lines, businesses and services. Louisiana's recovery has been
strengthened by this developer's commitment to building affordable,
multi-family housing units in areas that were ravaged by Hurricane Katrina."

Matthew Harris, managing director of the multi-family division of Provident
Realty Advisors, said, "We are proud to partner with LRA, OCD, and LHFA to
develop the Marquis Apartments and to help New Orleans recover from the
devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The Marquis Apartments is an urban-style
mid-rise apartment community in mid-city New Orleans that has revitalized a
blighted area damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Market response to this
apartment community has been extremely positive, with 85 percent of the
property leased and more than 40 apartments renting per month since opening
in mid-June."

The Marquis Apartments offer one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom luxury
apartment homes that include wood flooring, gourmet kitchens with stainless
steel appliances, faux granite countertops, two-inch faux-wood blinds,
nine-foot ceilings, vaulted ceilings in some units, individual alarms in
each unit, ceiling fans in every room and washers/dryers.

The community amenities include a clubhouse, business center,
state-of-the-art fitness center, activity room with after-school program,
saltwater swimming pool with sundeck, playground, picnic areas with barbeque
grills, elevators, gated-entry, covered parking and spectacular views of
downtown New Orleans.

Dallas-based developer Provident Realty Advisors has built two additional
mixed-income, multi-family rental communities in south Louisiana through the
Piggyback program: the Lakeside Apartments in Slidell and the Stonebridge
Apartments in Abbeville.

Louisiana has awarded a total of 57 Piggyback projects in areas of the state
most impacted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, amounting to more than $580
million. In total, the Piggyback program will create more than 8,100 rental
units to help replace housing stock lost in the storms.

Created in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita in 2005,
the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) is the coordinating and planning body
leading the most extensive rebuilding effort in American history. The
central point for hurricane recovery in Louisiana, the LRA works closely
with the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness
(GOHSEP) and partners with state and federal agencies to oversee more than
$20 billion worth of programs, speed the pace of rebuilding, remove hurdles
and red tape and ensure that Louisiana recovers safer and stronger than
before.