Mayor Mayo and Councilwoman Ezernack participate in Press Conference with Governor John Bel Edwards to announce LED, DRA and City of Monroe Support for Century Village Project

Monday, September 12, 2016 - 1:30pm

City of Monroe receives Delta Regional Authority Grant for Water Service Expansion to Century Village Project

This morning Mayor Jamie Mayo and City Councilwoman Gretchen Ezernack are in Baton Rouge, LA, where they participated in a press conference with Governor John Bel Edwards, Delta Regional Authority Chairman Chris Massengill and others to announce a $1 million dollar DRA grant for the Century Village project.  The Century Village project is in Councilwoman Ezernack's City Council District (#3).  
Century Village, is the 88-acre lifestyle community project, led by Centurylink and Southern Lifestyle Development, and anchored by IBM.  It is being constructed on U.S. 165 North across from CenturyLink corporate headquarters.  Century Village is #8 on Mayor’s 60 FOR 60 list of projects to start, further or complete during his current term in office. 

According to officials, the Century Village development will include Century Tower - a 5-story commercial building with over 100,000 square feet of office space.  IBM will anchor the Century Tower – creating more than 400 direct jobs for our region.  The Century Village development will have mixed use commercial, residential and recreational components.   This project is going to have a major impact on our city, parish and entire region because of the number of new jobs, new housing, and new quality of life components it brings.

The Delta Regional Authority announced a $1 million dollar grant form their Community Infrastructure Fund (CIF) to aid with the water and sewer infrastructure work for Century Village.  The City of Monroe announced a more than $650,000 match for the water and sewer infrastructure work.  

In order for phenomenal projects like Century Village to work, infrastructure such as water and sewer must be in place.  Our water system improvements will include a 10-inch water line that goes directly to the IBM building, and a 16-inch water line with a ground storage tank that provide service to the new development and CenturyLink's existing corporate headquarters.

Mayor Jamie Mayo comments, "We are excited about this major project for our city.  The City of Monroe is providing a $692,659 match for the water system expansion portion.  Century Village will spur job growth, housing development and multiple quality of life enhancements. The City of Monroe is proud to partner with Governor John Bel Edwards, DRA, LED, CenturyLink, IBM and the Century Village project developer for this awesome project."

We estimate the cost to put the necessary water and sewage in place for the Century Village project will be just over $1.7 million dollars, with funding coming from the City of Monroe, the Century Village project developer, and the Delta Regional Authority.

CENTURY VILLAGE - Water & Sewer Infrastructure Cost (est.)
City of Monroe                           $692,659
Century Village Developer          $22,465 (Southern Lifestyle Development)
Delta Regional Authority            $1,000,000
TOTAL EST. COST                      $1,715,124