Mark Lee
Background
I am a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, real estate developer, and principal of Third Coast Community Development LLC with more than 20 years of real estate development experience—including site selection, land acquisition, project management, public-private partnerships, entitlements, infrastructure planning, and economic development.
Why did you want to be part of this fellowship pilot?
After spending much of my career in private-sector real estate development, I wanted to dedicate my experience to work that creates lasting benefits for Wisconsin communities. Access to attainable housing has become one of the greatest challenges facing many rural communities, and I saw this fellowship as a unique opportunity to help address that challenge while learning from experienced housing developers, local leaders, nonprofit organizations, and community partners.
What are your goals for the next year?
My goal is to help communities identify practical housing solutions that expand opportunity, strengthen local partnerships, and improve housing availability and affordability throughout rural Wisconsin while continuing to learn from experienced developers, nonprofit organizations, local governments, lenders, employers, educators, and community leaders.
What will you be working on during the fellowship?
Through the fellowship, I am engaging with Gorman & Co. and other partners on Columbia Corners, which will bring 60 new affordable apartment homes to Sturgeon Bay, gaining firsthand experience with the development and financing of affordable housing while serving as a local resource as the project advances. I’ll also be engaging with work on the Avenue, a 39-unit affordable housing development that recently broke ground in Sturgeon Bay.
More broadly, I will also be helping to create a stronger pipeline and framework for housing development in Door County by identifying and evaluating future opportunities, connecting municipalities and developers, convening housing partners, strengthening local development capacity, and helping promising projects move from ideas toward implementation.
Location
Door County
Host Organization: NeighborWorks Green Bay
