New senior living community planned

Published 6:00 am Tuesday, November 15, 2022

A new senior housing development project has been proposed to be built in District C of Lake Charles in the first months of 2024.

The development, Capstone at the Oaks Senior Living, is proposed to be built at 2401 6th St. in partnership with The Calcasieu Council on Aging and The Banyan Foundation.

The Banyan Foundation is a non-profit affordable housing development organization based out of Santa Barbara, Calif. Bailey Coats,  a Banyan Foundation representative, said the group specializes in multi-family housing with an emphasis on senior housing.

Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter said the city’s partnership with the Banyan Foundation will be a more than welcome investment.

“When I met with the Banyan Foundation, I expressed that we would love to see an investment in an area of the city that really needed it, that hadn’t had an investment like this in a long time,” he said. “The Banyan Foundation brought me back a home run.”

“We’re incredibly excited to bring a new housing development that will be able to cater towards the elderly members of the Lake Charles community,” Coats said. She said the organization’s primary goal is “to really give people a place to call home, something that pours an investment back into their community, but also a place that can be able to be taken ownership of.”

She said the organization took the time to connect with the culture and needs of the area before developing the project.

“We came to visit Lake Charles for the first time at the very end of 2020, and after spending a couple of months, and a couple of years, here in the community, we really were able to gain a better understanding of what they were actually trying to accomplish from development opportunities,” she said. “We wanted to make sure it was something that would actually benefit the community.”

Jacqueline Green, executive director for the CCOA, said the council’s partnership will aim to improve the quality of life for future residents of Capstone at the Oaks.

“We’re going to be a partner in development with them, and also provide programs, services and resources to the seniors who are going to live in the development,” she said. “We are going to be able to provide healthy meals for them, transportation options, assistance for their utility bills … we’re going to make sure that those seniors get that service.”

The complex will have 120 total units — 66 of the units will have one bedroom and 54 of the units will have two bedrooms. Residents will be required to be 62 or older, and meet the requirements  outlined by the low-income housing tax guidelines.

The total cost of the project has yet to be determined.