More than 100 people attended the Tampa Housing Authority groundbreaking of the second apartment complex in the Encore Project, the 141-unit Trio at Encore. Ground will be broken on the third unit (The Reed), a second building for seniors, on December 18, 2012. On Wednesday, December 12, 2012, the ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held for The Ella, a 160-unit senior apartment building on Ray Charles Blvd.

Officials who placed shovels in sand for the groundbreaking were: from left to right, M. G. “Manny” Alvarez, Tampa Housing Authority Commissioner; James Cloar, THA Commissioner; Pastor Jeffrey Singletary, pastor, Exciting Central Tampa Baptist Church; Karen Jackson-Sims, Deputy Regional Manager, HUD; Frank Reddick, Tampa City Council Member; Leroy Moore, THA, Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer; Eileen Pope, Bank of America Senior Vice President; Atty. David Smith, Gray Robinson; Ann Shaler, Bank of America Marketing; Jerome Ryans, THA President/Chief Executive Officer; Dr. Hazel Harvey, THA Commissioner/Chair; Rubin Padgett, THA Commissioner; Chloe Coney, representing Congresswoman Kathy Castor; Mike Suarez, City Councilman; David Del Soto, Architect, Baker Barrios; Brent Elliott, CORE Construction; Yvonne Yolie Capin, City Councilwoman; Billi J. Griffin, THA Commissioner; and Davie Iloanya, Director, THA Real Estate Development.  (Photograph by Lomax McIntyre, Jr.)