Client Focus Corner

Fidelity Bank loan/deposit relationship with David Hecht, owner of Formwork Development began in 2020.

Formwork is a developer/owner of several investment property types in New Orleans. In 2015, Formwork developed May & Ellis, the award-winning adaptive re-use of an historic French Quarter warehouse into a 25-unit mixed-use project. Formwork led the design and entitlement of 1148 South Peters, a large-scale mixed-use hospitality project with over 400 keys, and Hecht managed the development of 722 Girod Street, a new construction mixed-use building in the New Orleans warehouse district. Formwork has 125 units of mixed-income housing currently under development in New Orleans.

Prior to founding Formwork Development, Hecht lived and worked in New York City, where he led all phases of development for Barrett Design & Development. As a Senior Architect with TEN Arquitectos, a renowned global design practice, Hecht directed the design of complex projects up to 1.3 million square feet, headed the international competition winning team for the 2015 Pan-Am Games, led the design of 300 Ashland and oversaw construction of Hotel Americano.

Moving to New Orleans in 2015, Hecht recognized the lack of affordable housing especially in the "work-force" segment. He became acquainted with PadSplit, an Atlanta based mission-driven marketplace that helps solve the affordable housing crisis. PadSplit is a full-service management company which thoroughly checks out tenants. The business model, while allowing affordable housing, increases cash-flow to property owner by capturing under-utilized space and provide more leasable rooms within the same floor plan.

Our first loan relationship with Hecht is a construction / term loan which provided money to construct two buildings in Central City, specifically at 2808-12 Philip Street in New Orleans. The properties will contain 18 bedroom units where residents will rent bedrooms by the week with a one-month minimum and share the common areas with other residents. The property was recently completed on budget on on-time and, with PadSpilt as manager, will begin accepting residents this month.

This type of affordable house will satisfy the need for low-income workers that serve our community.

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For more information on Formwork, contact Fidelity Bank Commercial Relationship Manager Randy Crochet.