A few short years ago, Jamauri Bogan was a star running back, wearing #32 for the Western Michigan University Broncos. Now he is the trailblazing owner and CEO behind Bogan Developments, a real estate company launched in 2020 that seeks to revitalize Brownfield sites – buildings that have fallen into disuse or environmental contamination.
Jamauri is working with KZCF on an impact investment loan to finance Zone 32, a recently completed residential and commercial complex in Kalamazoo’s Northside neighborhood. Zone 32 elevates living standards for children and families through 12 units of high-quality, affordable housing and an early learning center affiliated with YMCA of Greater Kalamazoo.
Understanding the Challenges
Fresh out of college, Jamauri became one of the county’s pioneers in affordable housing development. A 2023 study by The New York Times estimated that out of approximately 112,000 U.S. real estate development companies that exist, 111,000 of them are white-owned; Black and Hispanic developers make up less than 1% of the industry. There are a number of factors contributing to this bleak statistic. Discrimination, wealth inequity and barriers to accessing capital are three of the most common ones.
“Legacy developers built the cash reserves and the balance sheets, so they’re able to borrow from banks, pool funds and use tax credits that I wasn’t able to.”
– Jamauri Bogan | CEO of Bogan Developments
Jamauri’s experience confirmed what we know to be true: Without access to investment capital, housing developers and business owners cannot provide large-scale solutions that address our community’s most pressing needs.
With a shortage of nearly 8,000 housing units and a 65% high school graduation rate, Jamauri could see that Kalamazoo County desperately needed the solution that Zone 32 would provide. And yet he faced an uphill battle making his dream a reality, routinely spending all his energy on his project without a paycheck. “In this industry, remember, you don’t make a dollar until the building is complete and the first person moves in,” he said. Bringing this goal to fruition was going to take a powerful team, but instead of playing the running back, this time he was the head coach, assembling his own lineup of all-stars in the real estate development industry.
Deepening the Story
Though he was able to assemble the right architects, contractors, lawyers and advisors, there was the pressing matter of the price tag for Zone 32, about $4.7 million. He did not have any investors and signed off on the debt personally. It is a scary thought, but Bogan believed in the strength of his deal, his team and the impact the project would have on the community.
Since most banks are unwilling to take risks on unproven developers with no financial assets to back a loan, Jamauri got busy getting grants and loans from the likes of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Michigan State Housing Development Authority, the City of Kalamazoo and Kalamazoo County. But, to ensure the long-term financial health of the project and make good on his affordable rent promise, an impact investment loan with KZCF was the winning solution he needed. Our guiding principles aligned with Jamauri’s mission for youth programming and affordable housing, and we saw in Zone 32 a transformative opportunity to advance equity in an additional way – by breaking barriers for Black leaders in this community.
Impact Investment Journey
“Working with KZCF has been great. When you deal with traditional financial institutions, there’s a struggle. There’s no focus on community. No focus on impact. When you’re on a journey to make a difference, you want to be around folks that get it because otherwise you’re going to spend six, seven months having a conversation in a committee, and then they’ll say, ‘No, we’re not going to do it.’ Not because the numbers don’t add up, but because their application doesn’t even facilitate getting you through the door.”
– Jamauri Bogan | CEO of Bogan Developments
Transformation on the Horizon
Work on Zone 32 was completed in 2024, and a diverse mix of residents have lived there for just over a year. The KZCF impact investment loan allowed Jamauri to lower rent for tenants by as much as $350 a month. It also freed up capital that will help Bogan Developments do more projects in years to come. “Thank God I was able to break through, get the capital. Now I have the experience, and it’s easier. My next project is 36 units. And the one after that is 52,” he added.
The office for Bogan Developments is located within Zone 32, right beside the pre-kindergarten. Every day, Jamauri can sit at his desk and look out the window to see the interaction of some of the youngest residents of the Northside community and know that everything he has been through to get here has been worth it. “If you have a dream, a vision, it can be done, it’s just going to take a lot of work. But I think we’ve clearly laid out a potential blueprint for other folks to follow. In every public document that’s out there, you can see the funds that went to this project, and it’s my hope that other folks feel a calling to go and do the same thing,” said Bogan.
