The Black Informant

Developer finds success in SanFran market

Michael Johnson: Taking Urban Development to Another Level
thewesternedition.com

When you mention the Fillmore Heritage Center to Michael Johnson, he smiles as he reflects on the development he helped to create. The almost one-year-old $102 million project is a mixed use housing development, which features condominiums, a parking garage, the restaurant 1300 On Fillmore, a jazz music and education non-profit organization (the Jazz Heritage Center), and Yoshi’s new San Francisco location.
This complex is located in the heart of San Francisco’s Western Addition on Fillmore Street.

“The Fillmore Heritage Center has become a legacy project for me and our company,” said Johnson. “It combines a lot of things that are important for community development in African American neighborhoods such as mixed use housing and commercial space.”

The project has helped to signal the rebirth of the Western Addition area, and is the latest urban development project in the city of San Francisco.

“This would not have happened without the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and the Western Addition community,” continued Johnson. “Everyone believed that if we did not get the project built on that site that it would not happen.”

But it did, after years of project proposals and disappointments. The Fillmore Heritage Center is one of the largest projects developed by an African American developer in California.

Johnson, president and founder of EM Johnson Interest, Inc. has over 20 years of experience in urban real estate development around the country. A native of Philadelphia, Johnson studied architecture at the University of Maryland and then went on to Georgia Tech, where he got a Masters Degree in Real Estate Development.

After graduating from Georgia Tech, Johnson stayed in the Atlanta area where he worked at the Community Design Center of Atlanta, which offered free architecture services for community organizations. He then went into private business with Ron Wilson - a real estate salesman, and Richard Dagenhart - an architect, to form Wilson, Dagenhart, and Johnson, a firm that focused on urban and economic development in minority communities.

“We were together for 11 years and we worked throughout the country in Birmingham, Memphis, Dallas - with most of the focus on urban redevelopment,” says Johnson. “We worked on the Martin Luther King Historical District in Atlanta, which includes Ebenezer Baptist Church. We helped to create what is now a national park.”

After being in Atlanta for a number of years, Johnson wanted a change of pace and in 1989 began looking at various cities to move to. He decided to move to the Bay Area, where he went to work with the Neighborhood Housing Services of America, based in Oakland, which provides funding for other non-profits that develop affordable housing.

He stayed out of development for a few years, but he got back into it in1993, founding EM Johnson Interest, Inc. He would begin working on projects in various states including Oregon, Idaho, and Georgia. He did not enter the San Francisco market until 1998, when he decided to bid on the St. Regis project on Third and Mission Streets, a mixed use, housing, hotel and open space, which would eventually become the Museum of African Diaspora. (more…)

Black-owned bank reports growth

7th Largest Black-Owned Bank Reports 37% Increase in First Quarter Net Earnings

LOS ANGELES, CA (BUSINESS WIRE) - Broadway Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: BYFC), parent company of the 7th largest Black-owned bank in America Broadway Federal Bank, today reported first quarter net earnings of $607,000, or $0.32 per diluted share, up $163,000, or 36.71%, when compared with net earnings of $444,000, or $0.23 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2007. The increase in net earnings was primarily due to increased interest-earning assets and a higher net interest margin.

Chief Executive Officer Paul C. Hudson stated, “Bank earnings are benefiting from strong loan demand and increasing net interest margins.” He went on to state, “Going forward, we are focusing on deposit growth and asset credit quality.” (more…)

Today’s Working Girl

We have certainly come a long way from that 80’s flick “Working Girl”.

Women of Color Own 2.4 Million Business
By: Errol Mars
urbanhustler.com

According to the U.S. Census, 2.4 million (34%) of woman-owned businesses are owned by women of color (African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans).

As of 2002, there were nearly 7 million woman-owned businesses in the U.S. According to the U.S. Census, 2.4 million (34%) of those are owned by women of color (African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans).

This large group of minority business women are not just running traditional businesses like restaurants and hair salons. Many are running professional companies that offer a variety of services including: advertising, public relations, accounting, staffing, government contracting and more.

According to the National Association of Business Women and Moms (NABWM), women have also become incredibly active in the field of network marketing. Companies such as Mary Kay, Herbalife, Color Me Beautiful, Warm Spirit, and Isagenix have recruited a record amount of business women who now work as consultants and sales associates. It’s currently unknown, however, as to whether or not network marketing women are considered to be actual businesses owners. (more…)

“…the largest gift from an African-American ever made to a U.S. university”

Verna Dauterive Pledges $25M to USC
By Annette Moore

Verna B. Dauterive M.Ed., Ed.D. has pledged $25 million to USC. Her gift, whose specific designation has yet to be determined, is made in memory of her late husband, Peter W. Dauterive, a 1949 graduate of the USC Marshall School of Business.

“This is a history-making gift,” said USC President Steven B. Sample. “It is the largest ever made by an African American to a U.S. institution of higher learning. We are tremendously grateful to Dr. Verna Dauterive – an alumna who personifies excellence in her professional and civic life – for honoring her alma mater in this way.

“Verna is a wonderful person and a wonderful Trojan. She is one of the most caring and unselfish people I have ever known. Through the generosity of Verna, and her late husband, Peter, this university will be significantly strengthened for many, many years to come.”

Born and raised in Louisiana, the Dauterives met as students in USC’s Doheny Memorial Library and maintained lifelong ties to the university.

After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Peter Dauterive enrolled at USC under the GI Bill. He graduated near the top of his class, and USC secured a placement for him at the Broadway Federal Savings & Loan Association, where he rose to the position of executive vice president and managing officer.

He later earned a master’s degree in executive management from the University of Indiana and in 1973 became founding president and CEO of the Founders Savings & Loan Association.

Active in the Republican Party, he was a member of the Republican National Committee and a delegate at the party’s national conventions from 1976 through 1996. President Reagan named him to the National Commission for Employment Policy, and he sat on several state commissions as well, including the California Economic Development Corp.

He also was a board member for numerous charitable and educational organizations, among them the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, California Science Center and Los Angeles Figueroa Corridor.

At the same time, Peter Dauterive stayed connected with USC, supporting the university’s cancer center as well as its business and education schools. (more…)

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Man! If we could only get HBCU grads to donate this kind of money, they would not be in the present position of fighting for federal funding to stay in existence.