Jonathan Leit & Mike Grote
Directors
Alembic
Alembic Community Development is a mission-driven real estate company based in New Orleans and New York City that develops affordable housing, nonprofit and cultural facilities, and community-serving commercial spaces. The company has completed the adaptive reuse of several prominent historic buildings in New Orleans, including the Tate, Etienne & Prevost (TEP) Center in the Lower Ninth Ward, and Rose Collaborative campus in the Seventh Ward. Alembic is also co-developing the new construction of 192 affordable apartments and a federally qualified health center at the former Brown’s Dairy site in Central City. Mike Grote and Jonathan Leit have worked as directors at Alembic in New Orleans and on the Gulf Coast since 2007.
Most Excited About in the Coming Year
We’re working on two developments in Central City that co-locate early childhood education (ECE) centers with affordable housing. These projects are in direct response to New Orleans residents passing a new millage in 2022 that’s funding ECE for low-income families. Since state programs for ECE are regularly at risk, this new local funding source is critical for ECE centers and represents a monumental investment in equity and our city’s future.
The first project is the redevelopment of an historic firehouse on Louisiana Avenue that our nonprofit partner, People’s Housing+, was awarded by the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority through an agreement with the city. We’ll be creating an ECE center serving approximately 65 students and seven permanently affordable apartments upstairs. The second project is new construction: a flagship center on Washington Avenue for Wilcox Academy Central City, a leading ECE provider run by the indomitable Rochelle and Whitman Wilcox, that will serve up to 150 students along with four affordable apartments targeting educators.
Biggest Challenge Facing Your Industry
There are many: climate change and dramatically increased insurance costs, property taxes and interest rates. But we’ll focus on current state-level politics, which present a particular challenge for the city. With the socially regressive policies the Legislature has recently passed and/or debated, the issues that we care most about — affordable housing, criminal justice reform, women’s reproductive rights, equal rights for LGBTQ+ people, early childhood education — will be even further at risk. This is a major threat to New Orleans’ economy, and to all of us who care about basic human rights and decency.
