Mapping Detroit: Tracking the city’s Black-led developer projects

Detroit is a city on the move. New construction and real estate development has been on a break-neck pace that not even a COVID-19 slowdown can’t seem to stifle.

As a result, an important question of equitable opportunity is elevated. One major drawback for Black developers was in the State of Michigan’s “Michigan Strategic Fund” selected the Detroit Downtown Partnership with Bedrock Detroit overlooking all of the Black developers in Detroit that were pushed to submit applications. 

Mayor Duggan’s 2023 State of the City address repeated mentions of many real estate projects led by 33 Black developers. It’s hardly an exhaustive list of Black developers, nor does it encompass all of the projects they are working on, but it still provides an important marker for where equity is in the real estate equation.

Other efforts like Capital Impact’s Equitable Development Initiative (EDI) has supported 56 BIPOC real estate developers, property managers, and investors. Building Community Value has trained 294 individuals interested in real estate in underserved neighborhoods with 85% BIPOC representation. 

The Mayor’s list of Black-led developer projects is focused in the areas where development is already heavily invested in. The exciting piece is that Black developers are involved and benefiting in higher-stakes projects, but there are still numerous underserved neighborhoods waiting to see the same levels of investment as Downtown and Midtown.