Real estate developers have a strong impact on the shape of our cities and region. Urban Ecology created this portfolio to link developers with cities and community organizations that seek to build more sustainable projects. Each firm is included because at least one of their projects meets two or more of the criteria that we use for endorsement: good location, mixed-use, transportation choice, housing choice, ecological design and pedestrian design. We do not necessarily support every project that the developers in this portfolio have created, or every aspect of the projects profiled, but we believe these firms are engaged in positive endeavors and we encourage their efforts.
Learn more about our endorsement standards.
Classic Communities, Inc.
1068 East Meadow Circle Palo Alto, CA 94303 650.496.4496 Scott Ward Classic Communities, Inc., headquartered in Palo Alto, is one of the Bay Area’s leading specialty homebuilding companies. Since its founding in 1992, the company has established a track record...
Community Housing Developers
255 North Market Street, Suite 290 San Jose, CA 95110 408.279.7654 Ron Morgan The Grove Community Housing Developers, Inc. is a private, tax-exempt, non-profit housing provider. Since incorporation in 1979 by a broad-based coalition of local community groups, church...
Jazz Construction & Development
101 Lincoln Avenue San Rafael, CA 94901 415.458.5400 Fax: 415.458.5401 Bruce Burman, bburman@jazzbuilders.com French Ranch Bruce Burman and Kim Feldman of Jazz Construction have been developing and constructing residential communities in Marin County for fifteen...
BRIDGE Housing Corporation
1 Hawthorne Street, Suite 400 San Francisco, CA 94105 415.989.1111 Fax: 415.495.4898 Carol Galante, President Marin City BRIDGE, a non-profit regional development corporation, provides distressed urban areas with opportunities for economic revitalization through...
Christian Church Homes
303 Hegenberger Rd, Suite 201 Oakland, CA 94621 510.632.6712 Fax: 510.632.6755 Pam Rahn, prahn@cchnc.org Bancroft Homes Christian Church Homes, a non-profit developer based in Oakland, was created to meet the housing needs of low-income seniors who were facing fewer...Barry Swenson Builder
777 North First Street, 5th Floor San Jose, CA 95112 408.977.9050 Barry Swenson Artists in Residence Barry Swenson Builder created San Jose’s first live/work project. In the mid-1980s, a decade before the city established its live/work policies, Barry Swenson...
Affordable Housing Associates
1250 Addison St., Suite G Berkeley, CA 94702 510.649.8500, ext. 14 Ali Kashani Shattuck Senior Homes Affordable Housing Associates (AHA), a nonprofit organization formed in 1993 in Berkeley, has acquired or built nearly 300 units on twelve separate properties in the...
Forest City Development
785 Market Street, 14th Floor San Francisco, CA 94103 415.836.5980 Susan Smartt San Fernando Apartments Forest City Development is the local branch of parent company Forest City Enterprises, Inc. Founded more than 80 years ago and headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio,...First Community Housing
2 North Second Street San Jose, CA 95113 408.291.8650 Fax: 408.993.9098 Thomas Iamesi FCH was founded in 1986 by David Neale and John Brezzo, both successful developers in San Jose, and since that time has developed housing for 436 households, with another 368 units...The Olson Company
3020 Old Ranch Parkway, Suite 400 Seal Beach, CA 90740 562.596.4770 Fax: 562.596.4703 Heather Hayes, hhayes@theolsonco.com The Olson Company was founded in 1988 with the goal of working with cities to create high quality for-sale housing in established communities...
Burbank Housing Development Corporation
3432 Mendocino Avenue Santa Rosa, CA 95403 Phone: 707.526.1020 ext. 213 John Lowry DeTurk Commons Burbank Housing Development Corporation of Santa Rosa is a non-profit organization that has developed over 2000 Sonoma County housing units in 50 different developments...
Panoramic Interests
2116 Allston Way, Suite One Berkeley, CA 94704 510.883.1000 Fax: 510.883.9000 Patrick Kennedy, pck@panoramicinterests.com The Gaia Building Patrick Kennedy is the owner of Panoramic Interests, which has been developing housing, live/work space, and commercial property...
Ecumenical Association of Housing
2169 East Francisco Blvd., Suite B San Rafael, CA 94901 415.258.1800 Fax: 415.453.4927 Mary Murtagh Parkview Apartments Ecumenical Association for Housing (EAH) is a 29-year old nonprofit created to develop, manage, and advocate for affordable housing. Through the...
Holliday Development, LLC
1500 Park Avenue, Suite 200 Emeryville, CA 94608 510.547.2122 Kevin Wakelin, Kevin@hollidaydevelopment.com The Marquee Holliday Development is a real estate development company specializing in the rehabilitation of former industrial buildings into mixed use, live-work...
Emerald Fund
501 Second Street, Suite 212 San Francisco, CA 94107 415.777.2914 Fax: 415.777.1317 Oz Erickson 530 Chestnut St. The Emerald Fund’s infill projects are concentrated in San Francisco and most include both housing and retail space. At 530 Chestnut Street in the...Regis Homes of Northern California
393 Vintage Park Drive, Suite 100 Foster City, CA 94404 650.378.2800 Fax: 650.570.2233 Mark Kroll Regis Homes has developed over 9,000 units of housing in California and its infill projects include CityPark and Atherton Place. CityPark, in Foster City, consists of 42...The John Stewart Company
2310 Mason Street San Francisco, CA 94133 415.391.4321 Fax: 415.296.7579 Therese Milestone, tmilestone@jsco.net The John Stewart Company (JSCo.) develops, owns, and manages both affordable and market-rate properties in the Bay Area and throughout California....
Citizens Housing Corporation
26 O’Farrell Street, Suite 506 San Francisco, CA 94108 415.421.8605 Fax: 415.421.8615 Scott Falcone, sfalcone@citizenshousing.org The Promenade Citizens Housing Corporation (CHC) is a non-profit, public benefit corporation established in 1992 to increase and...
Resources for Community Development
2131 University Avenue, Suite 224 Berkeley, CA 94704 510.841.4410 Fax: 510.548.3502 Jenny Falcon, rescomdev@aol.com Mabel Howard Apartments Resources for Community Development is a Berkeley-based non-profit developer of affordable housing. To date, RCD has completed...CORE Development
99 North 1st Street, Suite 101 San Jose, CA 95113 408.292.7841 Fax: 408.292.0339 Martha Putnam, mputnam@coredevelopmentinc.com David Neale and Core Development Inc have pioneered both affordable and market rate infill housing in San Jose since the late 1970’s,...
Live/Work Institute
173 Filbert St. Oakland, CA 94607 510.839.7200 Thomas Dolan The Phoenix Lofts Thomas Dolan is an architect, development consultant, and developer who has pioneered a new infill building type: the live/work courtyard community built from the ground up (historically,...
Desco Development
3675 Mt. Diablo Boulevard, Suite 110 Lafayette, CA 94549 925.283.8470 Fax: 925.283.9671 Curt Blomstrand Wayside Plaza Desco Development has completed a variety of infill development projects, including the transit-oriented Wayside Plaza at the Pleasant Hill BART...Madison Part REIT
1155 Fifth Street, Suite 101 Oakland, CA 94607 510.251.6421, 800.655.6083 Fax: 510.452.2973 John Protopappas Madison Park REIT’s President and CEO John Protopappas has been developing and managing mixed-use live/work space and apartments since the early 1980s....
Abrams/Millikan & Associates
1834 Fourth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710 510.644.3002 Denny Abrams Fourth Street, Berkeley Abrams/Millikan is a design/build development firm that has been developing Berkeley’s Fourth Street Center for over twenty years. Stretching along two blocks on both sides...
The CoHousing Company
1250 Addison Street #113 Berkeley, CA 94702 510.549.9980 Kathryn McCamant, katie@cohousingco.com Swan’s Market Cohousing The CoHousing Company is a design and development firm specializing in creating cohousing communities. These communities cluster 15 to 40...
Charities Housing & Development Corporation
195 East San Fernando Street San Jose, CA 95112 408.282.1131 Fax: 408.280.1311 Dan Wu, danwu@ccsj.org Pensione Esperanza Catholic Charities strives to empower the working poor to move beyond basic survival to a meaningful quality of life by providing economic, family...
Alan Strachan
218 Jean Drive Santa Rosa, CA 95405 707-591-0880 Fax: 707-575-3103 Alan Strachan, strach@pacbell.net Courtside Village Alan Strachan is somewhat of a one-man army. In conjunction with various partners on a per-project basis, he has spent 10 years focusing on...
Equity Community Builders
244 California Street, Suite 400 San Francisco, CA 94111 415.263.1752 Fax: 415.263.1759 Tom Sargent, tom@ecbsf.com Thoreau Center for Sustainability Equity Community Builders provides project management and development expertise for infill housing and commercial...
Eden Housing, Inc.
409 Jackson Street Hayward, CA 94544 510.582.1460 Linda Mandolini Ohlone-Chynoweth Commons Eden Housing has been developing affordable housing in the East Bay since 1968. More than 30 years later, they have developed nearly 4,000 units of affordable housing throughout...
TMG Partners
100 Bush Street, 26th Floor San Francisco, CA 94104 415.772.5900 Fax: 415.772.5911 Todd Wright Emery Bay The Martin Group has been highly active in real estate in the Bay Area for 17 years, developing more than 8 million square feet of diversified property, including...Creative Housing Associates, LLC
9201 Wilshire Blvd. #303 Beverly Hills, Calif. 90210-5514 310.859.8801 Fax: 310.859.8804 Michael Dieden, mdieden@challc.com In 1996, Michael Dieden founded Creative Housing Associates. Targeting urban opportunities where there is a proven market and financing...
Infill Development Project Endorsement Standards
Urban Ecology works to build cities that are ecologically thriving and socially just. Developers play a critical role in shaping the Bay Area, and we support development projects that further our vision of a sustainable region. In particular, we encourage “infill”...
East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation
310 8th Street, Suite 200 Oakland, CA 94607 510.287.5353 Lynette Lee Hsimen Hin-nu Terrace East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation is a community development corporation that has been dedicated, for nearly 25 years, to the betterment of the East Bay community....