Dr. Gina Merritt was raised in the Bronx and bootstrapped from public housing to a $390M+ development portfolio across Washington, DC, Baltimore and Cleveland, with more than $6 billion underwritten and 8,000+ units built. She is a Howard graduate with a Darden MBA and a USC doctorate, and the founder of Northern Real Estate Urban Ventures.
Her projects include Ninety-Four Ten Hough in Cleveland, a $47M, 116-apartment catalyst development on a site that sat vacant fifteen years; the Beacon Center in Washington, DC, 99 apartments plus office, retail and a community facility financed across three capital stacks; Nannie Helen at 4800, affordable homes on Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE; and Mary's House, fifteen single-room units with communal space for LGBTQ+ adults over 62. Through Project Community Capital® her company stays embedded on site after opening: job placement with 44 employer partners, a 93% retention rate, mental-health services and food access.
“I only started to own projects in 2020. I spent my first 20 years in this business doing everything except owning. That's the reality for most of us — and it doesn't have to be a bad thing. It's how you learn.”
GroundUp is the map she wishes someone had handed her: every framework in the curriculum was forged on a real project, and the projects show up inside the lessons, deal by deal.