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The LaGrange Housing Authority officially has a new administrative office. 

On Tuesday afternoon, the LaGrange Housing Authority (LHA) celebrated the opening of the new Phoenix Admin Building on 204 Calumet Center Road in LaGrange with a ribbon cutting hosted by the LaGrange-Troup Chamber of Commerce.

LHA CEO Zsa Zsa Heard said it was particularly poignant to celebrate the opening in May because the housing authority was also founded in May.

“The Housing Authority officially had their administrative building in the month of May,” Heard said.

“They’ve never relocated that building. That building that we were in was a maintenance shop, an office, I think a maintenance shop again, and then I got there and it was the office. So now we finally have been able to get an administrative building,” Heard said.

Heard said LHA’s previous administrative offices are being torn down to build a community center for the adjoining community.

The new office is located in the Calumet community rather than inside the housing authority itself to help connect communities.

“We’re probably one of the few housing authorities not connected to the property. This was because we’ve got to connect the dots. We’ve got to connect the people to other parts of town. Some of our residents didn’t even know this was even in town. They’ve never been to this side of town before and our housing authority is less than a mile away they did not know this exists,” Heard said.

“So this is to our residents that now that they can come and they know there’s other parts of the world and they now can see and be a part of,” Heard said.

LaGrange City Councilman Leon Childs praised the move, saying it’s an example of many great things to come from LHA.

“City of LaGrange, you have some huge things coming from the LaGrange Housing Authority,” Childs said. “Miss Heard’s vision was to move off of the property on Chatham Street over to the Calumet Center. Moving from there only a mile and a half away, residents don’t know what it looks like to come off of the property, to enjoy where they live at. But now they have a beautiful facility to come and pay attention to. That’s a huge vision. The more people that you can help and pull out of poverty. That’s what makes your city great.”