The long-vacant Franklin Foundation Hospital in Franklin, Louisiana is getting new life as The Avenue Senior Apartments, a $37 million redevelopment that will turn the shuttered medical campus into 72 affordable homes for residents age 55 and older. Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana celebrated the project's groundbreaking, marking its formal move from planning into construction after the building sat empty for nearly two decades.
Built in 1951, the Franklin Foundation Hospital served as the parish's primary medical center before it closed in 2008 and remained vacant ever since, according to Biz New Orleans. The project carries a total cost of approximately $37.4 million and is being developed by Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana through its subsidiary, Renaissance Neighborhood Development Corporation. Paul Irons, who served as master of ceremonies at the groundbreaking, said the former hospital is being given new purpose as senior housing.
A Complex Financing Puzzle
Turning a decommissioned rural hospital into modern senior housing required stitching together several layers of public and private funding. The Avenue is financed through Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity, federal and state historic tax credits, tax-exempt bonds, and Community Development Block Grant funds provided by the Louisiana Housing Corporation and the Office of Community Development. Home Bank provided the construction loan, while the Federal Home Loan Banks of Dallas and Atlanta contributed Affordable Housing Program grant funding.
The building's path to historic tax credit eligibility began in September 2017, when it was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a designation that recognized its construction under the federal Hill-Burton Act between 1951 and 1953 as part of an effort to expand rural healthcare access in St. Mary Parish. That listing became pivotal for developers seeking to combine multiple tax credit programs to close the funding gap on the $37.4 million budget. HCI Architecture is serving as the architect of record, with RNGD Builders and NORP Construction, LLC acting as builders and contractors, and the finished property will preserve the historic character of the former hospital.
Serving Franklin's Aging, Cost-Burdened Renters
The Avenue will provide 72 affordable apartments restricted to residents earning between 30% and 80% of the area median income, with units designed for veterans and for residents with developmental and physical disabilities. That income mix is squarely aimed at a community with deep housing cost pressure: renter households in Franklin had a median household income of just $20,798 in 2022, and local renters allocated an average of 47% of their earnings toward rent, according to Point2Homes. Households spending more than 30% of income on housing are federally classified as cost-burdened, and 2024 data shows nearly a quarter of Louisiana renter households faced severe cost burdens, paying more than half their income toward housing, per America's Health Rankings.
The project also lands amid a notably aging local population. In 2024, about 19.8% of St. Mary Parish's roughly 46,552 residents — nearly 9,200 people — were age 65 or older, according to USAFacts. Vanessa Levine said quality, affordable housing is essential to the future of southeast Louisiana, adding that The Avenue preserves a meaningful place in Franklin while creating safe, high-quality affordable homes for older adults.
Built-In Energy Efficiency and Local Partners
Beyond affordability, The Avenue will incorporate high standards for energy efficiency, and once complete, HRI Management will serve as the property's manager. The project has drawn together a wide roster of local partners, including the St. Mary Council on Aging, the City of Franklin, the St. Mary Parish Industrial Development Board, Teche Health, and New Orleans Restoration Properties, LLC as a development partner.
The redevelopment is part of a broader pattern for Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana, which has 130 years of service in the region and has previously worked with Renaissance Neighborhood Development Corporation on a new $31 million New Orleans complex aimed at middle-income workers rather than low-income seniors. Where that project targets renters earning 80% to 120% of area median income, The Avenue is built for the opposite end of the income spectrum — older Franklin residents on fixed or limited incomes who have long faced a shortage of affordable options in the parish.
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