Habitat for Humanity of Smith County is welcoming a new CEO, but she’s no stranger to the organization. Mary Alice Guidry has served on the organization’s board for 6 years, including terms as secretary and president. She is a licensed architect with 9 years of experience as a Senior Project Manager with Fitzpatrick Architects, Inc.
(Disclosure: The Smith County Habitat affiliate is a sponsor of programming on UT Tyler Radio.)
Mike Landess: For UT Tyler Radio, I’m Mike Landess. Things are changing in Tyler, Texas. There are brand new condos and apartments built, mostly occupied, within walking distance of downtown. A new conference center replacing Harvey Hall, a new Smith County courthouse is planned. And Tyler Mayor Don Warren gives a lot of credit to the new energy for revitalization to younger Tylerites who are investing their time and their talents to make our city a better place. And one of those young Tylerites is architect Mary Alice Guidry, who’s about to become CEO of Smith County Habitat this July. She’s our guest today. Welcome.
Mary Alice Guidry: Thank you, Mike. Glad to be here.
Mike Landess: You’ve been a senior project manager at Fitzpatrick Architects for 9 years, involved with a variety of community groups like Heart of Tyler as well, and we met as fellow board members of Habitat for Humanity. What is it that drives you to be a part of the revitalization of Tyler?
Mary Alice Guidry: When I moved to Tyler 9 years ago, which it’s hard to believe it’s been 9 years already, I didn’t really know a lot about the ins and outs of this wonderful city. What I’ve gotten to realize is, in addition to the people being so wonderful, is that there are so many wonderful organizations. And companies who 100% are ready to jump in at any moment to give of their time and talents. And I want to be a part of that. And to be a part of organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and Heart of Tyler, those have given me such a springboard for getting to know and getting to network with all of the wonderful people of Tyler. I’m excited to see where we’re going in the next 2 years, 5 years, 10 years.
Mike Landess: I mean, you’re working obviously with people who are leaders and are in their 60s and 70s and that sort of thing, but what about the people who are closer to your own age? What is it that you have in common, and why are you so driven?
Mary Alice Guidry: Yeah, I think people who are in their upper 20s, 30s going to their 40s, have such a hands-on (role), they really wanna be a part of that tangible quality for revitalization for improving the city around them, because I think that they realize that what that does is, it then feeds back into their interests and their loves about what they’re doing with their family and their friends, and the quality of life that can really escalate their hopes for the future.
Mike Landess: The current CEO of Smith County Habitat is Jack Wilson, who’s about to retire. He’s an architect as well, and he’s been a guest of UT Tyler Radio. He says, of you, “It’s time for new blood and fresh ideas.” Now, when you take over in July, what kinds of things would you like to see implemented?
Mary Alice Guidry: So when I take over in July, I think that, of course, there’s gonna be a little bit of time where I’m really getting to know, getting my feet underneath me. But leading up to even today, I’ve been doing lots of research to know what’s going on in Texas as far as different Habitat affiliates, Habitat Internationals, doing lots of really great things across the world. I think that the biggest thing for me is, although we are a considered a medium-size affiliate, is thinking like a large affiliate with this big picture mindset of what are the challenges that our community is facing as far as affordable housing? We’ve always done single-family homes. We do critical repairs for veterans and seniors and the disabled. But what can we do that’s even bigger than that? I have lots of ideas about even multi-family housing, different even mixed use.
Mike Landess: Like retail?
Mary Alice Guidry: Yes, where it mixes. And it’s funny because as I’m kind of brainstorming about these things myself, I brought the idea to Jack just a few days ago. And I said, I don’t know if Habitat would be kind of open to doing that sort of a type of project. He goes, “Hold on one second. I think I’ve got something you need to see.” And, he brings out this this very large book. And it’s, I think the title was “A Pattern Book,” and it was made by Habitat for Humanity. But I think that they published it several years ago. Wow. I mean it’s plans and elevations and little renderings of not only single-family homes, but how housing has to be looked at from an urban perspective in an urban setting. You have to do things that are multi-story things that are more geared toward that multi-family housing.
Mike Landess: Smaller footprints.
Mary Alice Guidry: Smaller footprints. Exactly. And so I thought, well then, it’s not too far out of thought to maybe do something similar in Tyler, especially moving forward with everything that’s going on in the downtown area with the revitalization in these mixed- use areas.
Mike Landess: So what would you like Tyler to look like in 5 years? Let me just put a little finer point. I’m picking five.
Mary Alice Guidry: Five years. OK.
Mike Landess: Do we have fabulous apartments at the Carlton and then the Wilcox? And then what else?
Mary Alice Guidry: Yeah, I think so. I think so. I know that well, personally at Fitzpatrick, we’ve been working on both of those projects that you mentioned. The Carlton and the Wilcox have actually been two projects that my husband Corey and I have been working on together. And luckily, the Wilcox is under construction. I think you talked to Don Warren about that last week. And the Carlton, it’s shortly gonna fall into place. Thereafter they did, they were able to at least get through the first phase of demolition, which was basically gutting the inside to the point where now it would just be rebuilding inside, of course down to the historic pieces of the puzzle, because that was very important for the owners. But yeah, I think we’ll have, I mean, gosh, the Carlton is a hundred units, the Wilcox is 31. There are other plans in the works for a couple other properties down there that I think, yes, in the next 5 years, we’ll have plenty of places for people to live down there. And it’s perfect timing because the med school will be completed by then. How many people are gonna be moving to Tyler for that reason, whether for schooling or as a professor? Seeing the potential in how far we’ve come as a city in the 9 years that I’ve been here to think about what the potential is, I’m really excited to be more and do more, and be better and do better. It’s a really exciting time in Tyler, and I’m so, so thankful to be a part, even just to play a tiny little part.
Mike Landess: Our guest has been architect Mary Alice Guidry who will take over Habitat for Humanity for Smith County this July. To hear this interview again, or to share it, go to KVUT.org. I’m Mike Landess for UT Tyler Radio.
(Transcripts are automatically generated and may contain phonetic spellings and other spelling and punctuation errors. Grammar errors contained in the original recording are not typically corrected.)
