New affordable senior housing coming to North Lake Charles

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - Calcasieu Heights Senior Village is new development coming to Lake Charles to fill the need of senior housing.

It’s one of three affordable housing projects the city announced last week.

The retirement community will be built along the Calcasieu River on the north side of the city right next to the Riverside Park.

Calcasieu Heights will be a gated community with 72 units built on Fitzenreiter Road with the total cost earmarked at just over $19 million.

“We’ve seen the damage Lake Charles has sustained in recent years and we wanted to come down here and try to make a difference and help rebuild the city,” Jeff Glover said.

Glover is with MGM Development Group, the group working on the housing project. He explained it was important to make sure seniors could have a place to live that can hold up in future storms, making the units hurricane and flood-resistant.

“I think in the aftermath of these storms, as bad as they were, that Lake Charles will have more hurricane resistant housing than any other community on the Gulf Coast which should bode well for economic development,” he said.

Lake Charles residents are welcoming the new Calcasieu Heights Senior Village as they hope it will also help spark economic growth in the area.

“I look at it as a quality of life,” resident Ellaweena Woods said. “I look at production. You know, God says for us to go and multiply and produce and we’re asking for businesses to come into our community, but if there are no houses, then the businesses will not be able to come.”

MGM expects Calcasieu Heights to generate $50 million in over all economic benefit to the city.

“So, it will be a great place to live, but more importantly it’s all about community,” Glover said.

Calcasieu Heights is expected to be complete by early 2025.

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