Building retains its historic character with modern amenities

For more than 50 years, the Fairmont Apartments building, located on the corner of Common and Cotton streets at the cusp of Shreveport Common in downtown Shreveport, was one of the tallest structures in north Louisiana, but its insides were showing signs of its age. Now, the building and its apartments have been given new life, thanks to a $21 million renovation.

The building’s transformation also includes such new or improved amenities as a fitness center, a learning center complete with computers, a community room, a new roof and a more modern and spacious laundry room.

“Wow! Just wow!” exclaimed Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux at the official ribbon-cutting ceremony at the building’s re-opening.

“I have grown up here, seen this building through some very sad times, and today is a very happy day. I had the privilege to tour most of the common areas, and I will tell you that it’s just spectacular. Sometimes we have people from out of town who show us a vision of what we can be, and this is an example of that.”

It’s all the result of the efforts of Midland Residence, a Rhode Island-based company that purchased the property and manages thousands of such units nationwide.

What attracted the company to the Fairmont? “We had several properties in the area, up in Vivian, Springhill and Cullen, and this was a good candidate. It had good bones to it, so we were just drawn to it,” said its CEO, Michael Packard.

“Each community, each property is unique and special, just like this building,” Packard said. “I think we all know the importance of affordable housing and the shortage of it. Everybody needs a place to live. Everybody needs a modern, clean, updated property. I think that’s what we have here today – 254 units of freshly renovated property, all built with beautiful amenities for the community. I think what’s most important, at least for me, is not only do we preserve a building, we preserve affordable housing.

“This property was basically bought as an affordable housing asset. It’s important that we create affordable housing, but even more importantly, is that we preserve it.

“The renovation that we did here was an extremely comprehensive renovation. We renovated the entire property, inside and out. A lot of stuff you can’t see — the plumbing, the building infrastructure, the fire alarms, sprinkler system, heating and cooling system. It’s a fortified structure; that means it’s a good place to be when there’s a bad storm. It’s built very well.”

Packard said in addition to making modern improvements to the building, they also took care to preserve its historical character as much as possible. “I think we brought it back a little bit.”

Why was such renovation necessary? “It had aged poorly. So the new owners have completely renovated it, and it is a beautiful property. It’s still affordable housing, affordable residences based on a sliding scale. (The residents) have a brand new property manager who’s just excellent, and this is now just a beautiful place to live. We’re excited,” said Wendy Benscoter, executive director of Shreveport Common.

“Shreveport Common is being revitalized as a creative cultural community. Shreveport Common is really the gateway into downtown, and it’s now going to have this beautiful place instead of something that looks run down,” she said.

The new Fairmont building features 254 affordable one- and two-bedroom apartments, “which we need in our area, and that helps downtown, too. Not everybody can pay full-market rent. When you have a place like this with a gym and computer rooms and owners that care and a staff that cares, it does make a difference in our community,” Benscoter said.

“I think it’s wonderful,” said Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Cedric Glover. “It’s a great thing for downtown.”