Join us for "Developer Margins," the first event in our Equitable Development Speaker Series

How does developer profit fit into the community benefits movement in the city of Detroit? How much money do developers actually make? And are there profits leftover for more community benefits?

On August 14, we'll take a look at these questions and more at a panel event on developer margins, which will be the first of four speaker events as part of our ongoing Equitable Development Series. RSVP for this free event here. (Note: If driving, park on the third or fourth floor of the structure behind the Detroit Center. Your parking ticket will be validated at the event.)

We'll also be hosting an IDEA Lab in early 2019 that will explore urgent topics to help inform and educate how Detroit can grow inclusively. 

Here is the list of panelists for our August event:
 

• Chase L. Cantrell (moderator) is the executive director and founder of Building Community Value, a Detroit-based non-profit dedicated to implementing and facilitating real estate development projects in underserved Detroit neighborhoods. An alumnus of the University of Michigan Law School, Chase specialized in real estate and corporate law and has facilitated corporate and real estate acquisitions, sales, and other complex transactions for clients of all sizes (from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies). 
• Robin Boyle was born and educated in Scotland and studied at the Glasgow School of ARt and the University of Reading, UK. He is currently professor of Urban Planning in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Director of Graduate Certificate Program in Economic Development at Wayne State University. Boyle has participated on the board of several Detroit and Michigan-based organizations, including Greening of Detroit, Metro Matters, Urban League Institute, Redevelopment Ready Communities (MEDC), Regional Economic Innovation (MSU), and Detroit Revitalization Fellows program at WSU. His research interests focus on public policies and planning for large cities with an emphasis on governance and economic development in a metropolitan context. 
• Melinda Clemons is senior director for Enterprise Community Partners' Detroit market. She has been a mission-driven lender for over a decade. A Detroit native, Melinda has focused her career on using strategic lending to help rebuild underserved communities. She helped launch and served as fund manager for the $30 million Woodward Corridor Investment Fund and the $30 million Detroit Neighborhood Fund, organizations whose mission is to spur economic growth in the city of Detroit. She most recently conceived and assisted in the creation of a lending fund to increase access and capital to developers of color in Detroit. 
• Clifford Brown has over twenty years of real estate, corporate and investment finance, and banking experience. He is responsible for new business development, project management, private financing, broker relations, negotiations, planning and sourcing private equity for Woodborn Partners and its affiliate companies. 
• Peter Hammer has been a professor at Wayne State University Law School since 2003, and is the director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights. The Keith Center is dedicated to promoting the educational, economic and political empowerment of under-represented communities in urban areas and to ensuring that the phrase "equal justice under law" applies to all members of society. 
• Dietrich Knoer is the president and CEO of the real estate firm The Platform. Dietrich has been a development and investment professional with domestic and international experience for the last 24 years. He started his career at Hines in the Chicago and Atlanta office as development manager working on large office developments and value-add acquisition opportunities. Thereafter, he spent four years in London, England, at JPMorgan Partners as a Principal in the acquisitions group of JPMorgan's real estate private equity fund. He moved to Detroit with his family in 2013. 

This event is part of our Equitable Development series, in partnership with Doing Development Differently in Metro Detroit, where we explore issues and stories on growing Detroit in a way that allows people from all races, classes, and abilities to participate and benefit from development.

Support for this series is provided by the Knight Foundation, Knight Fund at the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation.