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KB Home First Big Builder to Return to New Orleans
KB Home announced last week that it is opening the first new residential community in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina.
The 73-home River Green is located within minutes of downtown New Orleans and will feature the city’s traditional architecture, according to KB, which says it is the only national builder currently building houses and seeking land permits in the area.
The company has begun sales of the new homes, with one model complete and 11 others under construction.
Fifty-eight of the homes will be market-priced from the $300,000s, and 15 will be designated “affordable” and priced by the Housing Authority of New Orleans.
“I believe that our effort in New Orleans is a small step in the rebuild and recovery of this great American city,” said KB Home Chairman and CEO Bruce Karatz. “I hope that the people of New Orleans find our homes in River Garden to be beautiful. I know they will be of high quality.”
Located across from a city park, River Garden will offer single-family and attached homes, with 12 floor plans ranging from 1,257 to 2,305 square feet. Home owners will have views of downtown New Orleans and will be within walking distance of the Magazine Street shopping district and Warehouse and Arts districts.
“The community also serves as an example of the first concrete residential development coming back to New Orleans,” said Karatz. “One of the motivations for us eight months ago to announce that we were going to build in New Orleans was that we knew housing was one of the main problems facing the city. We had hoped, and continue to hope, that our efforts there will serve as a catalyst for other builders to come to New Orleans and help the rebuild.”
KB Home also expects late next month to open sales of 112 town homes priced at $150,000 in Guste Island, which is about a 30-minute drive from downtown. Four other communities are underway in Baton Rouge, La.
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