The Florida-based nonprofit affordable housing developer, TEDC is celebrating 40years of building strong communities with the launch of two of its newest housing communities in Miami’s Liberty City the event was hosted by NBC 6 News Co-Anchor Jawan Strader and attended by City of Miami mayor Francis Suarez and Miami-Dade County mayor Daniella Levine Cava. The construction underway for Edison Towers was the background for the groundbreaking ceremony. When the rehab is completed, 115 units of amenities-abundant affordable housing will be home for seniors. The celebration continued with the grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony of the newly-constructed Edison Place, featuring 200 sustainably designed workforce housing units. One of the first nonprofit developers in Miami to use Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) to finance affordable housing, TEDc’s commitment, partnerships, and progress in buildingcommunities for people of modest means were highlighted during the commemoration.
Carol Gardner, president of the woman and minority-led TEDc, remarked, “We are honored to celebrate 40 years of being a member of this community. We have struggled together, and we have succeeded together. And working together, we are building more housing that improves the quality of life for more people and fuels more investment to benefit the entire community. TEDc is privileged to work with you to help solve the affordable housing crisis. Edison Towers and Edison Place are reminders of what we can and will accomplish together.”
Elected and government officials, community leaders, and representatives of TEDc’s co-development partnerships recognized the Company’s work and its expansion to development in other states, including The Honorable Daniella Levine Cava, Mayor of Miami-Dade County, The Honorable Francis Suarez, Mayor of the City of Miami, State Representative James Bush III, State Representative-Elect Ashley Gantt, Congresswoman Frederica Wilson’s Chief of Staff, Alexis Snyder, Jorge Pérez, CEO, Related Group, Jake Zunamon, Senior Vice President of Development, Smith & Henzy, Jeff Hovis, Chair, Wilmington, NC Housing Authority Board of Directors, Luce Lohier, TEDc Board Chair and Eric Knowles, Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce President.
The commemoration event also highlighted TEDc’s growth with the announcement that the Wilmington, North Carolina Housing Authority selected TEDc and its co-development partner, Related Urban Group, to transform a 26-acre public housing project into a mixed-income, mixed-use community. The Fort Walton Beach Housing Authority of Florida had also awarded TEDc the multi-phased 19-acre redevelopment of existing public housing. A $400,000 appropriation and award from the State of Florida funding TEDc’s new social services initiative to provide financial training, GED certification, and vocational education to its communities’ residents. As part of the Initiatives, TEDc also announced the program will work directly with faith-based leadership, colleges, universities and other institutions to develop underutilized land to provide affordable housing.
Gardner closed the celebration with a call to action, ” Many say that the affordable housing crisis can’t be fixed. Some say that TEDc has big dreams. What we have is a solution, and it’s simple… We will work with our partners to deliver the highest and best housing and services to the people who need it most and to the communities they call home.”
