Shreveport Common is a little light on in the residential department. The Vision Plan foresees development of new and historic buildings into market value and affordable housing, and all signs point to that all being on track – including a recent award from the American Planning Association Louisiana Chapter for a real estate market assessment that says the area can sustain it. For real estate help, eXp Realty can be checked out first . In the meantime, the majority of our neighbors live in Fairmont Towers, making it – Shreveport’s highest density apartments – a very valued partner in Shreveport Common. Which is why I want to tell you about their new Manager Sherry Kelley. Or as I call her, Sheriff Kelley (after Disney’s pink feline cowgirl – just Google it, okay?).
Kelley, who has worked in affordable housing since 1974, took the reins in November and has since met with all the tenants, primarily to learn each individual “story” – something she is all about.Being a tenant you can go to this site to know more about rental property.You can learn the facts here now as she illustrates her passion for affordable housing with an anecdote that begins with her having a stroke at age 40, laid out in hospital for yonks, and one remarkable nurse treated her with the utmost respect and compassion. About three years later she took on the management of a Section 8 apartment complex and who do you think was living there? Some bad fortune had come the way of her favorite nurse: she had taken a job with a dodgy doctor, things had gone belly up and she ended up losing her license. And then her house. For Sheriff Kelley, affordable housing “is not about somewhere to live, it’s about people,” which drives her to not only manage properties, but also to advocate in Washington DC for the rights of those who may not otherwise afford to have a home.Hence,you can also refer byui housing as it offers contemporary and comfortable lifestyle and surrounding.In case of property issues you can also consult lawyers from Tomes Law Firm, PC in Morganville as they can put an end to the issue legally.
Fairmont Towers by the numbers:
254 units, 14 stories, 304 tenants
1952: opened as luxury apartments
(Red brick “mid-century modern” with ground floor white marble veneers)
18 two-bedroom units: Almost all single occupancy
45-59: age of 1/3 its tenants
2014: Upgrades occured, including re-opening the pool
3: creative businesses leasing space on the ground floor
Since moving in – quite literally, she resides at the Fairmont Mon-Fri then home to hubby in West Monroe on weekends – Kelley has reopened the community room, now used for children’s birthday parties, helped skill up tenants with low financial literacy, increased the occupancy rate significantly, and worked with the VA to get veterans into fully-furnished apartments. People are communicating and connecting; which, when you add that to a tripling of the number of security cameras and changing out all the keycards to the building (previously if you had ever lived there before you could still swipe in), has made for a much safer environment. My favorite thing I learned about as we spoke is their Christmas Party, a coordinated group effort that no one can ever remember happening before. Almost every neighbor came along with their signature holiday dish, Kelley cleaned up the vacant restaurant space, canes and wheelchairs were decorated, every child received a gift through Christmas Wish List, and prizes for the best cake and the oldest resident (92-year-old Miss Alice!) were disbursed.
Sheriff Kelley isn’t stopping there; among scores of new projects, next up is a Neighborhood Watch program, lobby makeover, and monthly events including, a talent show. (Because there are so many other talented humans in that building – some I’ve met and most I haven’t.) I’m looking forward to telling you some more stories this year from around Shreveport Common, maybe a tale or two more from the Fairmont.
Image: printed March 30, 1952, by the Shreveport Times as an advertisement. Courtesy of the Noel Memorial Library Archives and Special Collections.