Innovation Andactivism Alan Dones and the SUDA Story In
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ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT | OCTOBER 16, 2020 THE UPSIDE OF EQUITY Bay Area developers and community leaders are working to ensure equitable access to opportunity 2 OCTOBER 16, 2020 STRATEGIC URBAN DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE SFBT | ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT | SFBT STRATEGIC URBAN DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE OCTOBER 16, 2020 3 A vision for the future the WHY of Equitable Development In 1969 Raymon Dones Mapping a process where everyone wins (right) and business partner Joe Debro he traditional flow of real estate development has remained consistent for many founded the National decades. It is a simple business model, and from design through construction, Association of Minority one that invariably favors those with deep pockets and political connections. Contractors (NAMC), The needs and views of the communities where development projects are which today is the old- T est minority construc- planned are often neglected, if they are acknowledged at all. And sadly, in our region, the tion trade association gleam of the growing skyline is often offset by the accompanying growth of nearby home- in the United States. less camps. The result is a development process that often gets tangled in red tape, NIMBYISM, community protest, lost time and money. Another way is possible. One that benefits everyone, from the developers to local gov- ernments and the communities they serve. Embracing equitable participation in the evolution of the built environment holds a potential to create sustainable economic growth and provide health, safety, and quality of life benefits for everyone. As our industry evolves to address today’s challenges, real estate projects that embrace the goals of equitable participation will not only provide a great service to their communi- ties, but will also financially outperform those that do not. Alan Dones has made several notable contributions to the Oakland skyline, developing some of the most important buildings in the city’s recent history with his company, SUDA. His father did the same 50 years before. Yet in the intervening decades only a handful of major projects have been completed by African American-led development teams. Now Dones and his partners are working to introduce an initiative that will provide a roadmap toward more equitable real estate development. It will underline the upside of equity in the built environment. n About the cover: Partners with SUDA in The Mandela Station or Eastline Projects (clockwise from top right): Victor MacFarlane of MacFarlane Partners; Regina Davis, SUDA partner; Jun Ji, general manger, China Harbour USA; Edward McFarlan, Principal JRDV Urban International; Alan Dones, SUDA co-founder and partner; Scott Smithers (left) and Drew Haydel, principals at Lane Partners Above top: (from left) industry legends Hal Ellis (of Grubb & Ellis) and John Williams with Mayor John Reading in front of the newly completed Oakland City Center Office Building Phase I. The City Center project achieved unprecedented levels of minority contractor and local minority workforce participation, a strategy that was copied in urban areas throughout the US. Above: Raymon Dones speaking at a NAMC awards event. NAMC works with major corporate partners, strategic allianc- es, and public agencies. Access to opportunity determines Left: Raymon Dones at the City Center Clorox headquarters. who builds Oakland’s skyline. Dones left a lasting legacy in construction as well as in advocacy for contractor and workforce equity. 4 OCTOBER 16, 2020 STRATEGIC URBAN DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE SFBT | ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT | SFBT STRATEGIC URBAN DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE OCTOBER 16, 2020 5 What they accomplished almost Innovation seems like an act of levitation to me now.” AND Alan Dones, on the work of his father and other Activism contractors and developers of color facing systemic racism in 1960s and ’70s Oakland. Alan Dones and the SUDA Story n 1972 a team of Black contractors made a lasting contribution to the Oakland skyline. The three twelve-story towers at the MORH Housing I development in West Oakland were erected in less than 50 working days. The project received industry praise for its ingenuity, cost efficiency, and the stunning speed at which the structures were constructed. The buildings, and construction techniques, were widely replicated in the years to come. It was the first major high-rise development built by a team of Black general and subcontractors in the city—and now, nearly five decades later, it remains the only one. Alan Dones knows the MORH towers well; his father, Raymon, led the project that built them. Today, Dones is a con- tractor and developer himself —man- aging partner and co-founder of Strate- gic Urban Development Alliance, LLC (SUDA). Thinking back on the challenges that his dad’s team, as contractors and developers of color in 1970s America, had to overcome on that project still takes his breath away, 48 years later. “What they accomplished almost seems like an act of levitation to me now,” Dones said. His father, and his business partner Joseph Debro, had to confront deeply Raymon Dones around 1975. entrenched prejudice, first to enter the construction industry and then to find projects across the Bay Area. “To achieve funding for their projects. Despite these all of this they utilized a combination of obstacles, they built several groundbreak- hard work, innovation, and activism,” ing projects, including a middle-school, a Dones said. medical center and the 1,500 MORH res- With SUDA, Dones has led some of the idential units. Members of this cohort of most important and significant building minority contractors went on from those projects to complete numerous notable continued on page 6 6 OCTOBER 16, 2020 STRATEGIC URBAN DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE SFBT | ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT | SFBT STRATEGIC URBAN DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE OCTOBER 16, 2020 7 control over my own destiny,” Dones said. So at the turn of the A share of the pie There’s century he decided to pursue real estate development. The City of Oakland publishes the details of the city’s large, on- nothing more Highly qualified, yet denied access going development projects online. 131 were active as of March. SUDA started in 2000 when Bank of America’s local Commu- impactful than nity Development Division offered Dones a joint venture to help a construction meet their community reinvestment act commitments. less Dones and BofA pursued three projects together, including 27.3% than crane going the Alameda County Social Services Building, with the bank 2% providing the pursuit capital and Dones devising the investment up to signal strategies. The JV projects were progressing until, in 2001, BofA disband- positive change ed its local Community Development Division. is coming.” “Losing a deep-pocketed partner presented both challenges and opportunities,” Dones said. He negotiated exit terms that Black residents as percent Black developers heading saw BofA convert its investments in the joint venture into a se- Alan Dones, co-founder of Oakland population currrent projects in Oakland cured loan. Dones and his SUDA partner John Guillory were then of Strategic Urban able to move forward on the development of Thomas Berkeley SUDA’s Alan Dones (right) Development Alliance, LLC and Drew Haydel of Lane Square on their own. Partners are collaborating on The departure of SUDA’s deep-pocketed partner meant Dones Eastline, a major multi-use had to devise creative ways to finance the balance of the mixed- Players, owners, and fans would all be denied the benefit of a project planned in Oakland. use site, complete entitlement, and raise the equity and debt more competitive product. And everyone would lose. required to move forward with the $70 million project. “I’ve always felt that Babe Ruth was cheated of the historical “If you’re not part of the network you have a challenge of legitimacy of his records by having played in a league where arti- getting in and convincing the gatekeepers that you can be trusted ficial and discriminatory barriers limited true competition —and continued from page 4 works contracting and employment. “These officials would let me with their money,” said Michael Banner, President and CEO of perhaps even performance,” Dones said. get my foot in the door—and allow our outside-the-box innovative Los Angeles LDC, Inc., and a former banker, who worked with For Dones, the goal in real estate development is to see projects in Oakland’s recent history. But when he considers the techniques to be afforded objective evaluation,” Dones said. Dones on the project. “For my mind, Black people have a much increased equity result in more projects breaking ground, more achievements of his father, and Black contractors and developers In one of his early entrepreneur-contractor ventures, Dones more difficult time getting capital,” Banner said. “They are usu- cranes in the sky and greater business activity. The point is not to of that generation, he cannot help wondering why the develop- developed techniques for restoring failing underground drainage ally offered less money with more onerous terms and conditions, reallocate existing resources but to increase them. Bringing more ment picture has changed so little in the intervening years. pipes—without digging them up or taking them out of service. which almost sets you up for the possibility of failure. For those people to the table, and cutting up bigger pies. “We have not yet, as Black contractors, been able to get back This minimized traffic disruption and saved taxpayers millions of who don’t have to deal with that, it’s easier to be successful.” “Inequality retards the potential economic robustness of the to that place, of constructing high-rise buildings on our own,” tax dollars. When the project broke ground in 2004, it was the first major city,” Dones said. “It means that everyone, white as well as people said Dones. “It was during the mid 1960s that opportunities start- “We actually started repairing large-diameter underground construction crane erected in the Uptown District of Oakland in of color, has to struggle more for a piece of a smaller pie.” ed to open up for a short time.