Hiring Less Highly-Skilled Workers as a Business Model? How this IC100 Company makes it work

The term “urban revitalization” has often conjured up images of rapid gentrification. Firms of all shapes and sizes have often contributed to such an epidemic, seeing urban development as a solid market opportunity where value can be maximized.  Some firms, however, have located in inner cities because they realize there’s an existing opportunity to create shared value—i.e. making a profit while simultaneously making the neighborhood a better place for the residents and businesses that call it home.  

Boulevard Group of Atlanta is just one of those companies—and it landed them spot #73 on the 2011 Inner City 100 list.  The company provides planning and management services for affordable housing developments. In addition, the Boulevard Group is starting to create their own private communities that they will own and operate; this business line will be fully developed within the next five years. The company has operations in Huntsville, Alabama and Chicago, Illinois.

Boulevard Group was established in 1997 by James Brooks as a planning and program management firm specializing in capital projects for public agencies.  As the former Deputy Executive Director of the Atlanta Housing Authority from 1994 to 1997, Brooks was responsible for the planning and development of the Olympic Legacy Program which consists of five mixed-income communities that reuse of the Olympic Village from the Atlanta Games. The development was viewed a successful model nationwide and earned Brooks a reputation as one of the leading authorities in affordable housing development and management.   

Brooks actually started Boulevard Group when he was tapped by Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Andrew Cuomo to provide expertise and consulting services to a number of communities across the country that were struggling with their housing developments and associated problems.  The company initially started with just Brooks but has grown to over 20 full-time employees in three U.S. offices. Boulevard Group positions itself as one of the country’s only full-service community planning firms, providing a one-stop for the project development, management and social services needed to operate an effective housing development.  

Because Boulevard Group relies heavily on large government contracts, the company has not experienced the full pains of the economic recession like many other businesses. In fact, the company has shown a steady increase in revenues in spite of the surrounding economic climate    With renewed focus on urban housing developments, Brooks believes his company could double in revenue and employee size over the next three years.

In addition to government contracts, Boulevard Group has drafted plans for developing and operating their own housing communities.   This would represent a significant business model shift for the company, moving from solely a service provider to a real estate and community development.   Due to the recession and decrease in property values, Boulevard Group has been able to secure several real estate properties at a reasonable rate, positioning the company for a run at development once the market stabilizes.

Brooks credits his company’s growth to two factors: (1) its comprehensive one-stop approach with both development and management services (usually firms provide one or the other); and (2) the human capital that the firm has been able to attract from across the country. 

Although Boulevard Group’s human capital has been an asset for the company, Brooks finds that recruiting the talent is one of his company’s most significant challenges, as the company relies on a highly-specialized workforce that involves people skilled in architecture, project planning, economic development, and housing management. Boulevard Group has developed a new recruiting strategy to overcome this difficulty, opting to hire more “generalists who share the company’s values and philosophies” and training them to understand and execute Boulevard Group’s approach and processes. In addition, the company has placed an emphasis on promoting from within the company, opting to rely on the institutional knowledge of employees who have worked their way up in the firm rather than searching for new project management talent.

Boulevard Group has always been located in the inner city.  The company is housed in a 1903 Victorian house that Brooks purchased and remolded in the late 1990s.  Its inner city location has been critical to the firm’s identity, setting the right image and ethos for team members and customers alike.   This is especially true given Boulevard Group’s work with urban housing developments.  According to Brooks, the company’s inner city location also allows the business to “put its money where its mouth is….If you’re going to serve inner city residents,” according to Brooks, “you have to be located there.”

In addition to setting the right image and tone for the business, Boulevard Group’s inner city location is an asset when recruiting and retaining talent.   Brooks explains, “Our workers want to be downtown and in the inner city; our location helps us attract the type of workers that are critical to growing our business’ capabilities and customers.” In terms of infrastructure, the Boulevard Group has found its location’s proximity to the main freeway (I-80), City Hall and the State Capital (both house important local customers for the company). Additionally, Boulevard Group employees have direct access to the Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport via the MARTA train (public transportation) in fifteen minutes.   In terms of Boulevard Group’s inner city location, Brooks did not any infrastructure challenges or limitations.  

To find out more about Boulevard Group or the rest of the 2011 Inner City 100 that are changing urban communities all over America, you can visit the spread in Fortune magazine from this past summer.  All Inner City 100 winners are honored in Fortune and also receive free management education which includes a day of case studies and presentations led by professors from Harvard Business School.  To find out more about the program, visit the Inner City 100 page.

BY Alex Rodriguez on November 7th, 2011

TAGS: