A self-described “builder,” the outgoing executive director of the Builders of Color Coalition, Colleen Fonseca, is reflecting on how much the group has achieved in three years, and where it still wants to grow.
Boston leaders are eager to use the NAACP convention to cast off city’s reputation as a largely white place where racism still lingers. Big changes underway in the region’s commercial real estate and finance sectors can back that up, local executives say.
Black real estate history is being made in Boston right now, thanks to some dedicated, hard-working people blazing trails in an industry that’s still mostly white.
State and city officials praised the new hotel for helping boost the city’s convention business and creating an opening for women- and minority-owned firms in real estate and construction.
The diversity of the development teams vying for a piece of state-owned land in downtown Boston is something to be celebrated. But it also gives lie to the old saw that it’s “too hard to find” diverse firms to partner with.
Vying for one of the last Big Dig remnant parcels in Boston, six development teams are balancing the usual decisions about a market-ready mix of property uses with new elevated standards for diverse design and project ownership teams.
