Vertical construction is underway on The Francis, the five-story, 251-unit apartment building rising on the former Kmart parcel at Elmwood Center in Jefferson Parish. Crews broke ground on September 30, roughly four months after Lauricella Land Company closed the construction loan in late May. The project is targeting completion in spring 2028.
Cost figures reported for the development have ranged from $76 million at the loan-closing stage to $110 million at groundbreaking, with the higher figure reflecting the project as currently scoped. Lauricella is developing in partnership with Felicity Property Company and Setpoint Ventures, with the Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission involved in finalizing funding. LRK designed the building, Parallel handled interiors, and RNGD is the contractor.
The unit mix runs to one- and two-bedroom apartments, with a resort-style pool courtyard, fitness center, co-working and creative space, a resident library, a dog walk, and community gathering areas. The building is positioned as market-rate product aimed at renters who want to live within walking distance of the retail and dining already operating at Elmwood Center.
What is under construction is a scaled-back version of what was first contemplated for the site. An earlier iteration called for 500 apartments over 85,000 square feet of ground-floor retail before the plans were revised. The project also absorbed years of delay from pandemic disruption and rising construction costs, with roughly a decade elapsing between the Kmart closure in 2017 and the start of vertical work.
The residential building is the first phase of a larger reworking of the center. A separate $35 million, 70,000-square-foot retail expansion is planned alongside The Francis, with space for two sit-down restaurants and additional storefronts. Parish officials have described the combination as the first project in Jefferson Parish to pair retail with housing on the same site, and recent infrastructure work in the corridor has added walking paths, landscaping, and drainage improvements.
The Francis now sits among the three largest multifamily developments underway in the metro, alongside the 336-unit Waters @ Covington in St. Tammany Parish, due in March 2027, and the 220-unit Rivana in the River District, which has not yet broken ground. All three are moving forward against interest rates at a 20-year high, which has held new construction across the market to a modest pace.
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