Readying, steadying and nurturing places to take their future into their own hands.
The secret to a great city, town, or neighborhood is that it is shaped by many hands.
Yet many of our places — the once-bustling Main Street, the mostly-vacant walkable neighborhood, the aging shopping center — have faced stagnation and decline for decades. When reinvestment eventually comes, it is implemented by large-scale developers, often from outside the community. A healthy incremental development ecosystem is one where locals own, implement, and benefit from reinvestment in their community.
Neighborhood Evolution is a development consulting group deeply committed to giving locals what they need to take action.
We are experienced small-scale real estate developers, designers, community advocates, and urban planners intent on expanding local knowledge and confidence to translate plans into reality.
What We Do
If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a whole community to develop a building. Our team of experienced small-scale developers works directly with communities to coalesce locals of various backgrounds, disciplines, passions, and skills integral to the development process. We will help establish your ecosystem of local doers committed to improving their community and work with them on an ongoing basis to build on their shared expertise. In communities like South Bend, Indiana and Kansas City, Missouri, monthly meetup groups are the key to building a strong ecosystem and making things happen.
Ecosystem Building
12 Steps to Town Making Training - Virtual, One on One, For Communities in person
We facilitate the “12-Steps” program to train locals about developing real estate in their own neighborhoods. It’s not rocket science, but does require steady practice, a strong multidisciplinary team, and local knowledge. This 6- to 12-month process dives deep into various topics including: finding your “farm”, interviewing bankers and investors, running a proforma, leasing and property management, construction, finance, and design.
Support for Communities & Developers
Community development is a complex process, and it can be easy to get stuck when unanticipated challenges arise. Our team is comprised of urban developers with extensive experience working on complex projects, and we offer one-on-one coaching and mentorship to help review project scopes, zoning code complexities, financing plans and proformas, business plans, designs, etc. Our goal is to “un-stick” community developers and help them take the next step towards success.
“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”
- Jane Jacobs
