An affordable housing community is coming to Lafayette off North University Avenue.
The Madeline Cove Project will feature 30 homes, more than 90 townhouses, a senior living complex and a commercial store front. The homes are slated to cost no more than $150,000.
The project is more than just business, it's personal for one of the developers.
"Just being able to see the vision so clearly in my mind, but being able to build it and show the world that this is a catalyst for projects like this. If you see something in your community and it's dying, you too can bring an opportunity like this," said Terrica Smith.
She's one of the developers of the project and is excited to see what it will do for the community. Smith understands the importance of affordable housing because she was once homeless in New Orleans.
"Look, they don't see a poor, broke, homeless New Orleans girl anymore," Smith said. "They see someone who's creating jobs in the community, a new lifestyle worth living. Anybody that's looking to do this can do the exact same thing I'm doing. Don't let the no's stop you. A lot of the time, those roadblocks stop people from getting to this point."
Smith said this dream almost didn't come true.
Her team struggled to get financing for the project and were rejected more than 100 times. Investors called this project "a risk."
"I could tell right away if they were going to invest with us or not," said Smith. "I still have my notebook with tallies of our rejections that we had to go through. It's a reminder that anything worth having, you cannot give up on it."
Developers hope to break ground on the project in the next six months.
