Lincoln Avenue Communities Breaks Ground on NSA East Bank Adaptive Reuse Bringing Two Hundred Ninety Four Affordable Units and Thirty Thousand Square Feet of Retail to New Orleans Bywater

Lincoln Avenue Communities (LAC) has broken ground on NSA East Bank Apartments, an adaptive-reuse project that will convert a decommissioned naval complex in New Orleans' Bywater neighborhood into 294 affordable housing units and roughly 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. The development is the residential anchor of a larger rehabilitation of the Naval Support Activity complex, which has been vacant since 2011.

NSA East Bank Apartments will offer 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom homes serving households earning between 20% and 60% of Area Median Income, and will include 74 Project-Based Voucher units. Resident amenities include a rooftop pool and clubhouse, first-floor community space, outdoor play structures, a dog park and pet wash station, and bike storage. The project is planned to meet Enterprise Green Communities Certification and will include a rooftop solar array to offset a portion of common-area electricity, supporting lower operating costs and reduced environmental impact.

"This project will be transformative for the Bywater community and will bring new life to these historically significant buildings," said David Garcia, LAC Vice President and Project Partner.

NSA East Bank is planned as a multiphase campus. Early phases include the NewLab innovation hub, a facility focused on energy industry innovation and tech startups, with future phases envisioned to include the Railyard Marketplace and a riverfront estuary park. The site dates to June 1919, when the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps built a 1.5 million-square-foot logistics center on the Mississippi River’s East Bank. The landmark complex comprises three six-story buildings, each about 84,000 square feet, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The project has federal, state, and local support. HUD designated NSA East Bank a priority project, and financing partners at the groundbreaking included J.P. Morgan, Capital One, Boston Financial, Stonehenge Capital, Customers Bank, and Raymond James.

"Through historic tax credit equity, bridge financing and strong public-private collaboration, we're proud to support the revitalization of NSA East Bank — preserving New Orleans' heritage and building a brighter future for its residents," said Tim Karp, Managing Director, J.P. Morgan Community Development Banking.

"Housing is the cornerstone of economic opportunity, and Capital One is proud of our track record as a top community development lender, " said Dan Miller, Community Finance Capital Officer at Capital One.

LAC’s work in New Orleans follows its recent $35 million rehabilitation of Tivoli Place Apartments, its first Louisiana rehabilitation project. Construction for NSA East Bank will begin immediately, with substantial completion expected in September 2027. The project demonstrates a coordinated approach to affordable housing delivery that combines historic preservation, public-private finance, and sustainability measures.