Officially called the B.W. Cooper apartments, the Calliope Projects located in Central City were declared a mold hazard and were slated to be torn down after the storm. Even before Katrina, plans were underway to replace the most recently added buildings. There were 1,546 units on 24 city blocks.

The projects were built on low lying ground reclaimed by the pumps. Located just east of the #2 pumping station north of the uptown ridge, the area provides the waypoint for water being pumped out of Broadmoore on its way to the lake.

The most substantial buildings in the project were built between 1939 and 1941. The original boundaries were South Dorgenois, Erato, Earhart Boulevard and South Prieur Streets. In 1941, rents ran from $8.25 a month for a one bedroom apartment to $22.00 a month for a three bedroom. There are 690 apartments in the original development. In 1949, a gymnasium was added at Broad and Calliope Streets.

Across Earhart from the railroad and bus terminal and only ten blocks from the CBD, these buildings are ideally located to provide working people easy access to the business, hospitatility and medical centers of the city. Public transportation can move people to the city within just a few minutes. On the other side of the projects the commercial area at Washington and South Broad provides shopping and services accessible on foot.

In 1954, a twelve block expansion added 860 new units. The expansion pushed the western boundary of the Calliope back two blocks from Erato Street to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. These apartments were poorly built and have been an eyesore and nusiance to those who had to live in them.

In May 1981, the Calliope was renamed the B. W. Cooper Apartments. Mr. Cooper worked for the Housing Authority of New Orleans for 33 years and served on several civic and social organizations until his death in 1974.

The Calliope Projects or simply Calio or CW-3 to the locals are among the most notorious in Uptown New Orleans and the United States along with the Magnolia Projects. The drug trade and subsequent violence from it were two of the primary reasons New Orleans was nicknamed the "Murder Capital of the U.S."

Slated to be demolished prior to Katrina, heavy equipment finally arrived at the B.W.Cooper housing development on December 12,  2007 only to be greeted and stopped from proceeding by a group of about 500 protesters. Many of these protesters were from out of town and did not represent residents who had agreed these particular buildings had to go. The protest faded and the first 14 buildings are being removed from the site.

Redevelopment a a mixed income neighboorhood is expected to follow in two phases. Protests are only serving to prolong the difficulty for those who wish to return and live in this area.