A Chicago-based social enterprise company is purchasing the Hawthorn Crossings strip mall in north Minneapolis, promising it will build local wealth and support community development in one of the Twin Cities’ lowest-income and most diverse neighborhoods.
Lyneir Richardson, co-founder and CEO of Chicago Trend, is undertaking a crowdfunding campaign, asking nearby residents to invest a minimum of $1,000 into the Hawthorn Crossings project. He seeks to make the strip mall 49% community owned, saying that ownership of commercial real estate on West Broadway will empower the neighborhood.
“Anyone can invest. I call the effort intentionally inclusive,” Richardson said. “I am making an extra effort to invite local people to invest. … Our theory of that is that if local people invest, it’ll make the investment likely more successful because local people will care about it and protect it.”…