Bywater apartments inspire artists
by Jaime Guillet Staff Writer

NEW ORLEANS - Art, residential housing and business networking have all converged in HRI Properties' newest development, the $10-million Bywater Arts Loft. Designed as affordable housing for New Orleans artists, the 37-unit apartment building at 3725 Dauphine Street in the Bywater neighborhood is an adaptive re-use of the abandoned, 1930s-era Rex Garment Factory. The Bywater Art Lofts opened in February and was fully occupied in March. The renovation began in December 2007. Thirty-one of the
apartments are one-bedroom and six are two-bedroom.

The project was built with funding from the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency and MMA Financial. Woodward Design+Build was the design-build contractor for the renovation, with design services provided by the team of HCI Architecture, a subsidiary of HRI Properties, and Rozas-Ward Architects.
Michael Albracht, under the supervision of HRI project manager Josh Collen, led the interior design.
Building amenities include an art gallery for exhibition of residents' works; a business center equipped with computers, creative software applications and a large flat-bed scanner; audio/visual presentation equipment; and community space designed for performances and exhibitions.

The complex already has acquired an extensive waiting list for the 12-month lease apartments. One resident, painter Veronica Leandrez, said the unique style of the complex front doors open up inside to a communal atrium reminds her of the magnet art high school she attended in her hometown of Miami. "It's just like high school for adults," Leandrez said. "It was an old shopping mall that had been converted into classrooms and the windows faced the lobby. People post notes on your windows and you can leave your doors open." Leandrez said artists almost always live in atypical conditions, albeit usually because of money, and her new space has given her ample inspiration. "My painting room is upstairs and I have a lot of (natural) light. It's real nice," Leandrez said. I've already run out of hanging room for my paintings."