KEY TAKEAWAYS: A former Lower Ninth Ward grocery vacant for more than 20 years has been converted into a preschool. Shiloh Gardens Academy Holy Cross will have capacity for 50 children, with a majority of seats offered through subsidy programs. workshopWDXL served as developer and architect, w hile Carimi Construction was the general contractor. Financing included an Investar Bank loan, historic tax credits and an Early Childhood Education Facilities Grant.   A long-vacant former grocery store in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward has been redeveloped into an early childhood education center with capacity for 50 children, bringing a historic neighborhood property back into use after more than two decades. New Orleans-based real estate development and architecture firm workshopWDXL held a ribbon-cutting Aug. 20 for Shiloh Gardens Academy Holy Cross at 533 St. Maurice Ave. in the Holy Cross neighborhood. The preschool is operated by Pamela Marshall, who has run early childhood education centers in New Orleans for about 20 years. The new location will operate alongside an existing Shiloh Gardens Academy preschool in Central City and will offer a majority of its seats through subsidy programs, according to the project team. Marshall said the new location will address a shortage of nearby childcare options for Lower Ninth Ward families, some of whom have had to cross the Industrial Canal to access care. “I’m hoping that it can help to revitalize that community. The Lower Ninth Ward was hit pretty hard during Katrina, and it’s been slow to redevelop,” Marshall said. The project converted a former neighborhood grocery dating to the 1930s that had been vacant for more than 20 years. The store was operated for decades by the Masca family before local attorney Blake Jones purchased the property in 2017. Jones also owns several neighboring properties, including the former St. Maurice Catholic Church site. workshopWDXL was initially brought onto the project to stabilize the building’s foundation and install a new roof. In 2020, Jones and the firm partnered to redevelop the property, with workshopWDXL serving as both developer and architect. “It’s been the realization of a dream for me for a long time to give back to the Holy Cross in the lowest part of the Lower Ninth Ward,” Jones said. “I’ve been involved with this neighborhood since I purchased the St. Maurice Church site 13 years ago. It’s a treasure that we must preserve for future generations of New Orleanians.” Carimi Construction served as general contractor. The project’s financing included a construction loan from Investar Bank, state and federal historic tax credits and funding through the Early Childhood Education Facilities Grant Program, which is jointly administered by Agenda for Children and the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority. Claire Thomas, who manages the Early Childhood Education Fund at NORA, said the project offered an opportunity to return a long-unused property to commerce while addressing a community need. “We loved the idea of a building that had not been in commerce for an extended period being brought back to support the local community,” Thomas said. “On a project this size, it’s incredibly helpful to have a development team that can pull together the different funding sources and put together a capital stack that makes a project like this work.” The renovation preserved several elements of the building’s original design while adapting it to meet requirements for an early childhood facility. Original windows and doors were salvaged, and a historic awning that had previously been removed was restored. “This corner meant something to the neighborhood long before we arrived. Our goal was never just to save a building, but to give it a purpose the community needs today,” workshopWDXL Director of Development David Gindin said. “As both the developers and the architects, we were able to see this through from the first conversation to the first day of school.” Founded in 2019, workshopWDXL specializes in real estate development, architecture, design and adaptive reuse projects in New Orleans. ...read more read less