BCONE Board Member, Linda Shaw, Esq. of Knauf Shaw shared this...  

I attended the "Revitalizing the Community" mobile workshop in the East Side African American neighborhood of Oklahoma City, and heard the most interesting anti-gentrification business model for a project spearheaded by a development firm called Pivot.  

The project rehabilitated several auto repair facilities and a gas station into a grocery store and other small retail units (pizza shop, cannabis store, yoga studio, and some small offices).  Instead of using a traditional broker, Pivot offered brokerage fees to members in the community who assisted the developers in finding African American entrepreneur tenants.  

Pivot was then able to fill up the entire project with 100% minority-owned entrepreneurs. After a year of successful rental history, Pivot provided the minority business owners 15% ownership in their respective rental unit.  The grocery store that was part of this project in the former gas station space was being run by a not-for-profit that partnered with a large grocery store and some local farms to provide fresh food.  It was a very interesting successful project and a new urban hotel across the street is their next planned project!         

Posted September 19, 2022