LPG receives $2.7 million for Mathews Complex renovation

Lafourche Parish Government is the recipient of more than $2.7 million in disaster recovery funding for the purpose of renovating the Mathews Government Complex.

The Louisiana Office of Community Development Disaster Recovery Unit awarded $2,709,932 to the parish for the renovations, which will allow officials to access the Community Development Block Grant funds needed to finance the project.

LPG moved its operations to the vacated Walmart building as an emergency response in the days following Hurricane Gustav, which ripped off part of the roof of the Barrios Building in 2008. Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph described the original state of the building as, “an empty shell with four walls.”

LPG was able to purchase the building with Federal Emergency Management Agency funding.

The building’s interior has improved, but it still lacks the internal infrastructure necessary to facilitate healthy operations, according to a LPG press release.

Renovations are scheduled to begin Jan. 24, 2011, and tentatively end Aug. 22, 2011, according to Richard Weimer, of Richard G. Weimer Architect Aia.

Among the renovations includes the construction of walls for various department offices, electrical and lighting service, the construction of new Council Chambers and the construction of new public and employee restrooms.

The parish dedicated $262,213 to be combined with the $2.7 million for the project. Construction will cost $2.5 million, according to Weimer.

As the fifth most damaged parish from the 2008 storms, Lafourche received more than $33.6 million of more than $1 billion in disaster recovery CDBG money received by the state from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.