[MUSIC PLAYING]
- Hey, Tisha. - Hey.
SYLVESTER: Hey, how we doing?
ROBERT: How you doing? - Hey.
[INAUDIBLE]
Oh, no.
Hey.
I invited you all here today because I'm having
a meeting with a realtor.
CYNTHIA: Oh.
So y'all can have a seat, because we got to wait for him
to come out here and get us.
ROBERT: OK, want to sit down?
My grandmother passed in 2018.
And I remember when I was younger,
I used to always tell my grandma, Grandma, I'm
going to put you in the house.
I'm going to build a house for you.
And after my grandmother passed, I
realized, like, dang, that's something
I didn't get to do for her.
So I really want to build this subdivision.
And finally, it's all coming together.
Y'all know that I recently got my second master's in real
estate development, right? SYLVESTER: Right.
CYNTHIA: Yes.
So I want my first project to be a development
project in Bessemer-- CYNTHIA: What?
--named after my grandma and y'all mother--
CYNTHIA: Yes. Yes.
So
I'm so excited.
Grandma used to always say, Tisha, when you was little,
you'd always say you was going to buy me a house.
SYLVESTER: Right.
And unfortunately, she passed away--
Right.
LATISHA: --and I never got a chance to do that.
So I was like, what I could do for her legacy to live on
is to develop a community named after her.
Oh, yeah. She'll be proud.
She'll be-- LATISHA: Yeah.
--proud of that.
So where are you planning on doing this?
Well, that's why we're here today
to speak with the realtor, because he's
going to help me find the land.
And I invited you guys here because I want you all
to be part of the process of-- ROBERT: Right.
--everything.
So when he find it, we'll go look at it together.
And then, once we find the land, that's
when we can work out the design and the layout of it.
OK, all right.
CYNTHIA: I am so elated.
I wasn't expecting this.
LATISHA: I have a huge family-- CYNTHIA: Right.
--so family is so important to me.
ROBERT: Right.
And I feel like community and family is not as important
as it used to be when-- - Right.
Right. - --I was growing up.
So I just really want to, in my lifetime, just give back
to the next generation what you guys put in us,
because I don't want it to be lost.
Do Wanda know about your plan?
LATISHA: I haven't told her yet.
And I was trying to get her to come here, also.
But you know, she's at home, cooking for the food truck.
CYNTHIA: OK.
So this meeting was set in place,
and she couldn't make it, so-- because I wanted
to tell everybody together.
Right.
CLARENCE: How y'all doing?
Hey, how are you doing, brother?
- Hey, welcome. - Great to see you.
Great to see y'all. - Hey.
CYNTHIA: Yes.
Well, come on, let's step back in my office.
I've known Clarence since 2002.
His wife and I, we're like best friends, went to high school
together, went to college together.
So I'm excited to work with him and for him
to help me find a good deal on some land.
So tell me a little about the ideas that you have here.
OK, so what I'm looking for is some property
as close to Bessemer, if not like in the heart of Bessemer,
as possible.
We want to do retail meets youth development project there--
OK.
--pretty much.
I want it to be family friendly, so I
want it to be in a nice area.
Let's do it. I'm excited about it.
What's driving you about this project?
What's the drive here?
It's going to be pretty much the legacy from my grandmother.
CLARENCE: Oh, wow.
Yeah, so she was all about community and about love.
We're bringing back the closeness of the community--
CLARENCE: Yeah.
--a place where you're going to enjoy yourself.
You're going to have memories there.
Cool.
So that's what our whole initiative was when we came
up with the comeback group.
It was about coming back to your community
and putting back in there, you know, what you wish was
there when you was a child-- CLARENCE: That's right.
--growing up-- CLARENCE: Good project.
--or what you need there.
And I respect that.
You know, you get away from the community, you make it,
and you give back.
CLARENCE: That's right.
I did not want the Comeback Group to end,
because what the comeback group stood
for was just so important.
It was bigger than us.
Just because the Comeback Group didn't work out,
doesn't mean I'm going to stop giving back to the community
and to family.
What kind of idea are we looking at,
trying to make it affordable for the everyday person?
I want it to be affordable.
And the good thing is that Marcel's a general contractor.
Yes.
So we'll be able to build it at a good price.
Therefore, we can sell it at a good price.
Right.
OK.
So what time frame do you think it would take for us
to actually find something?
It could take me about 30 days.
LATISHA: OK.
Let's just get a few-- a few sites.
I want you to approve of them.
You can look at them, of course.
And then, what we can do is go back out and walk the land.
OK.
So give me at least 30 days to--
LATISHA: 30 days to find it. - --try to find something.
OK, so Clarence, thank you for your time.
CLARENCE: Mm-hmm.
I'll be coming here often to site out
and look at everything, so--
Well, you know you always have a home here.
So any time you need to pop into work, come on back.
Yes, come to the office and work.
ROBERT: Let's do it!
CYNTHIA: Yes, yes, yes.
This is going to be a good project.