Former homeless lady now owns company building a R200m housing project
- Terrica Smith is the CEO of Cachet Real Estate, an agent with Real Broker LLC and managing partner for Salt Capital Equity Group
- Smith has started a project on a $14 million development that will feature 30 affordable homes, 60 townhomes, a 50-unit senior complex and a retail building
- The entrepreneur and mother shared her struggle with homelessness before her breakthrough
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When Terrica Smith first dreamed of starting a business in real estate, nearly 100 people demotivated her and despite the financial setback, she just kept moving forward.
As the owner of Cachet Real Estate, an agent with Real Broker LLC and managing partner for Salt Capital Equity Group, she had an idea for a housing development which was aimed at those with limited income.
Now that funding is in order, the plan is to break ground in six months on the $14 million development that will feature 30 affordable homes, 60 townhomes, a 50-unit senior complex and a retail building.
Smith is a former foster child who aged out of the system at age 16 and later spent time living on the streets of New Orleans.
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Smith landed in Lafayette after Hurricane Katrina and then enrolled in real estate school.
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The project, which still has to go through the municipal permitting process before breaking ground, aims to address the housing needs of the city’s north side.
While the Brook Pointe apartments now under construction and other projects will help, Madeline Cove will offer homes for sale that will be priced at below anything which is currently available.
The development will resurrect the Madeline Cove project, which went dormant after previous developers installed the street lights, drainage and electricity and even began building the first house before abandoning the project.
Court records show Hammond-based Southeast Property Group bought the property in 2006, and the development and its 50 lots went into adjudication.
Earlier in January 2020, Smith visited the White House along with other Acadiana leaders and business officials to speak about the area’s progress with the Opportunity Zone programme.
That’s a significant jump from a time where she was living under an overpass on Claiborne Avenue as a teenager while caring for her son.
Smith detailed her experience and struggle with being homeless in her book Frightened, Scared and Alone No More, which was published in 2018.
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Source: Briefly News
