Ely Edwards Enterprises Inc.
Providing affordable housing and construction management for the New Orleans East Bank area.
Currently Owned Properties
OUR MISSION
Our young company is committed not only to steady and consistent growth in asset holdings and revenue but as well, to be a leader in social improvement in our efforts against homelessness and empowerment through education. As we build a history of consistent and healthy earnings, we seek to extend to the public the opportunity to benefit from our expertise by eventual participation through an investment trust. Our objective is to, "Do good while doing well..", and to lift disadvantaged segments of our community as we climb toward establishing greater success.
As we approach our 15th year in operation, we intend to grow the civic participations we’ve enacted such as the, “Flight for Excellence”, and ,“Ely Edwards Scholarship Fund”. It is in keeping with our larger mission to aid others as we strive to grow and achieve.
Edwards Construction, LLC's Project; 1459 Filmore
OUR PRESIDENT
Albert Ely Edwards II, is a licensed commercial contractor, a private pilot, a published author and the founding president and CEO of Ely Edwards Enterprises, Inc. A native Houstonian; he attended the Debakey High School for Health Professions and later received his bachelor’s degree from Dillard University in Premedical Biology in 1995. Edwards earned his FAA Pilot's Certificate in 2005 and his Masters of Business Administration from The Freeman School of Business at Tulane University in 2016. A 2016 news story highlighted the company and the CEO's role in its business and civic activities.
The company's twentieth year in business prompted Edwards' writing and release of, "Beginning Your Wealth in Affordable Housing; A Motivational Handbook". The guide is a brief account of the company's early history, enduring both recession and catastrophe following Hurricane Katrina. Its purpose is to serve as encouragement for those seeking a pathway to wealth accumulation, highlighting the advantages of affordable housing investment.
In 1997, pursuing his entrepreneurial aspirations, he entered into a business partnership and began a small retail tobacco shop in a prominent shopping mall in New Orleans. A & A Cigars thrived for a year and shortly thereafter became Canal Street Cigars, “Ely’s” first sole proprietorship. While running the small shop Al Edwards II built many relationships and alliances that grew from those he had with suppliers, vendors, bankers and patrons. Being in business for himself opened many doors and made him aware of a number of other opportunities available to him. At the encouragement of his younger brother, he began to look into real estate with a special attention to rental property. In 1998 he made his first few efforts to purchase a piece of property but fell short. Finally, after additional study and persistence, he engaged another partner with great interest in real estate and in September of 1999, the two of them made their first acquisition under the corporate name of “Genesis Investments”. Before long, the two had accumulated $650,000 + in assets under the young company. As their growth increased, Al’s cigar shop suffered and by November of 2000 it perished due to slowing sales and the decline of the American cigar craze of the early ‘90’s. Within the next twelve months, Al saw fit to grow faster than his partner in acquiring rental units and continued to purchase apartment houses even as “Genesis” held steady. The partnership enjoyed tremendous appreciation in their property values, however and the two profited well.
In September of 2001, Ely Edwards Enterprises, Inc., was founded as a solely owned corporation designed to acquire, renovate and manage residential and rental properties in New Orleans, Louisiana and beyond. The company has experienced rapid growth, now owning as many as forty properties in the Greater New Orleans area. The company's largest focus is its effort to eradicate homelessness in the New Orleans area in conjunction with partnering agencies and currently houses dozens of previously rescued homeless individuals and families through such organizations as Unity of Greater New Orleans, Odyssey House and others. Beyond his zeal for investing, Edwards' pursuits include marine navigation and commercial construction.
Beginning in 2012, Edwards established the, "Flight for Excellence"; a civic enrichment program for elementary school students. To date, the, "Flight For Excellence", program has taken more one hundred local students on the first flights of their lives! In line with the company's aircraft acquisition, Edwards plans to use this new tool to expand the reaches of the corporation along the Gulf Coast in the near term.
Beginning in 2018, Edwards will serve as president of Fulton Insurance Agency; a long-existing, full service independent producer which Ely Edwards Enterprises has taken an ownership stake in.
Al Edwards II has recently served on the Facilities Task force for the Recovery School District to Orleans Parish School Board transition and has been a board member of Fannie C. Williams Elementary Charter School since 2011. He established the Ely Edwards Enterprises Scholarship Fund for Dillard Students in 2013. He is a man of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. and a member of the Fore!Kids Charitable Foundation and The New Orleans Chamber of Commerce.
CONTACT
Ely Edwards Enterprises, Inc.
OUR ADDRESS
FAX - 504-482-6441
PHONE - 504-915-3490
Postal address
P.O. Box 57928 New Orleans, La. 70157
Electronic mail
General Information:
Sales: elyedwardshome@cs.com
Customer Support:
Webmaster: edwardsiial8@gmail.com
For any general inquiries, please fill in the following contact form: