Amarllyis Park - Rental & Rehab Affordable Housing Project

In 2017, Bryan D. Haverly and I, Linda Gordon, founded Havon Enterprises and we are a woman, black, and Veteran owned company. My partner and I share unique experiences that have been paired with training and education giving us the tools to create new entrepreneurial experiences and face unexpected challenges.  We have over 40 combined years of civilian, military, and government civil service that includes executive level management & leadership, retail management, inventory management, analysis, staffing/human resources, labor relations, and self-care/personal services. 

Amaryllis Park
Our first rehabilitation and rental project is in the Amaryllis Park section of the historically Black neighborhood of Newtown in northern Sarasota, Florida. In 2009, we inherited a property that was family occupied until late 2018.  The initial inclination was to sell the property and perhaps fund other entrepreneurial endeavors.  While consulting with a local real estate agent about the sale of the property,  we also considered transitioning the home into an investment rental.  After seeking counsel and making the decision to move forward with an investment rental property, we immediately found a mentor to help us fine tune our vision as well as execute our plan efficiently.

We teamed up with Mr. Terrill 'Terrill' Salem of T. Salem Construction.  Terrill is a General Contractor and Developer who has and continues to renovate, build, and property manage homes around the Sarasota Bay area.  His family has been in the Newtown area for over eight decades and his expertise, hard work, and intimate ties to the Newtown community has earned him the well-deserved position as the Vice Chairman of the Planning Board for the City of Sarasota.  Additionally, our families have a long standing relationship that spans over six decades.  Our meetings with Terrill revealed 1) there is a shortage of rental single-family homes in the Newtown community, 2) there were very few black owned rehab & rental companies operating in the Sarasota area, 3) we have a ‘leg up’ because our home was inherited and the community knows us of one of their own,  4) the City and County of Sarasota has been steadily revitalizing the area and property values are increasing, and 5) we would be losing out on a huge opportunity to create strong financial leverage for future endeavors as well as throwing away an opportunity to build generational wealth.  We agreed with Terrill and we began to plan our first project which we affectionately named Amaryllis Park.

Our plan for the Amaryllis Park home was a complete rehabilitation of the inside as well as an overall expansion to maximize profit and make it more desirable for those with a large or growing family.  The original layout for the home was 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, non-livable utility space, and a single covered carport.  The new plans would layout 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a dedicated laundry room, and a single covered carport.  Our original plan was to break the project up into smaller tasks and self fund with a completion of 12-18 months.  We were aware that this time frame was considered too long for most projects, but our desire to self fund led to that decision.  As the project got further along, our mentor suggested that we look for external funding to finish the project as our original timeline was unnecessarily delaying our company long term plans.

Location
As mentioned earlier, Newtown is located in North Sarasota (zip code 34234) and is officially identified as the City of Sarasota's only historical Black neighborhood.  Here are a few key notables about our community:

Goals
At the end of 2019, we were 40% complete and could no longer self-fund and we began to reach out to a variety of resources to secure funding to complete the remaining 60%.  We were in the final negotiations for funding when COVID-19 derailed us and we were denied.  We have been trying to secure funding using traditional resources, but have been denied as we have over extended ourselves trying to self-fund.   Amaryllis Park has come to a complete stop which means any rental revenue that would have been generated is now gone; but most importantly, we have lost the leveraging power of the finished project that would have assisted us with debt repayment and future rehab & rental projects.  We are not discouraged because we believe in our company and we wholeheartedly believe that we are a good investment.

We are invested
Bryan and I know first hand the impact that inadequate housing can have on families; especially children.  We both have experienced living in affordable/low income housing at various points in our lives with recollections of sub-par conditions.  We have since realized that the condition presented of those properties may have been due to negative stereotyping of low-income families. It is proven when a family is treated with respect and has decent and affordable housing it leads to improved mental and physical health, better educational outcomes for children, and an overall positive sense of belonging.  Our vision encompasses an affordable product that has been creatively, carefully and thoughtfully designed using cost effective methods resulting in a finished product that shows any family that they are valued regardless of their current situation. 

Havon Enterprises wants to be better and has pledged to do better and this will differentiate us from other affordable housing rehabilitation and rental companies.  We are looking for a  partner to help us achieve our short and long term goals and hopefully establish a long term business relationship.

Feel free to reach out to us through the AFF platform if you have any questions or would like to discuss the project further.