U-M brings a new perspective to real estate development with an online course focused on helping residents invest in their own communities

Growing up in Detroit, University of Michigan alum Chase Cantrell saw from a young age what could happen to a community that does not have the resources needed to grow and thrive.

Cantrell, executive director of Building Community Value and an urban planning lecturer at U-M’s Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning, worked as a real estate and corporate lawyer, where he played a part in many development projects in Detroit. It opened his eyes to who had a seat at the table and the ways in which community values are often ignored.

Frustrated that community members were so often lacking a voice, Cantrell decided to put his energy behind delivering real estate development education to people who frequently feel excluded from the conversation.

“Including community voices is a form of power,” he said.

When community members can influence and even lead real estate development projects, it gives them the ability to build wealth in their neighborhoods to benefit all who live there.

“In 2014, almost 100,000 parcels were marked for redevelopment by the Detroit Land Bank Authority,” Cantrell said. “We saw a lot of speculators coming from out of town and even out of the country to purchase these properties. So there was a transfer of wealth from local African American residents to such speculators.”

To provide community members with the education and skills needed to participate in the real estate development process, Cantrell started Building Community Value in 2016, where he still serves as executive director. It is an organization that helps people redevelop vacant spaces to meet the needs of local residents in Detroit communities.

“Many community members were concerned and interested in figuring out how to reclaim ownership of this land. They needed tools and resources to help achieve the goal of revitalizing their neighborhoods,” he said.

Nearly a decade after the launch of Building Community Value, Cantrell is taking that same education and empowerment mindset beyond the boundaries of southeast Michigan with an open online course on real estate development—a course open to anyone with internet access.

“Real Estate Development: Building Value in Your Community” builds on the foundations of Building Community Value. The course teaches foundational real estate development through an equitable lens and is available on Michigan Online and Coursera.

Cantrell, along with instructors at Building Community Value, will show how to identify and analyze neighborhood-scale real estate development projects. This includes foundational information on development stages, team building, project feasibility, financial modeling and social impact.

Bringing a community-first mentality to real estate ensures that developers have the community’s best interests in mind. That includes respecting a neighborhood’s heritage and the history of the community to ensure that projects address the needs of current residents.

Cantrell says that even one resident knowing the basics can allow them to ask the right questions needed to fight for community voices in neighborhood development. For Cantrell, education is empowerment, and with a background in political science, law, and computer science, he has always considered himself a teacher first.

“I am a teacher before a developer. But everything I do works together toward the goal of providing resources to students both in Building Community Value and at U-M,” he said. “It also helps me understand the gaps in knowledge. I’m able to bring all these experiences into one course for the benefit of all learners.”

Cantrell also wants to teach people the power they have to effect change once they have the real estate development skills they need.

“Everything we see around us was someone’s idea, and someone built it. I want people to understand that they have the power, authority and the potential to do the same thing,” he said.