Nancy was one of the top realtors in Acadiana! Along with Gail Romero, they formed Van Eaton and Romero, and became the premier realty business in the area.
Both Nancy and Gail, through the years, supported Teche Ridge, the first and only Traditional Neighborhood Development in Iberia Parish.
Their influence helped SMHA tackle and overcome 3 major barriers.
- There were local ordinances that made a Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) illegal to build. WE CHANGED THAT.
- WE CORRECTED local law that prevented developers from entering into pre-sale agreements until a final plat was approved by the Parish.
- WE TRANSFORMED the public’s perception of a TND developed by Southern Mutual Help Association.
Gail Romero
SMHA started Teche Ridge, overcame the hurdles and successfully created a development that a developer will take into the future giving Iberia Parish a new way of living together where families can enjoy quality of life and sense of community in a safe, walkable neighborhood.
SMHA searched and found the best developer in the Acadiana area with the capacity to invest millions to complete the $150 million Teche Ridge Development that SMHA started. Cliff Guidry and Tim Bradley of Guidry Land Development saw the vision and will take it to the next level.
Kudos to SMHA’s national lenders: Local Initiatives Support Corporation in New York and NeighborWorks Capital in Washington, D.C. This is the first time those two corporations jointly loaned millions into Iberia Parish. A big thank you to the two loan officers, Barbara Hoeltz of LISC and Jarrod Brennet of NWC.
Special congratulations goes to the Southern Mutual Help Board of Directors led by SMHA’s Chair, former Senator Fred Mills.
President Lorna Bourg who co-founded SMHA 56 years ago, says, “This was one of the most challenging undertakings in SMHA in over our half century, nationally and internationally.”
None of that would have been possible without the dedicated SMHA staff, especially Andrea Ordodi and Special consultant Denise Galatas.
