TREND Services

TREND offers a suite of services that identify neighborhood and strategic retail opportunities, shorten the typical retail development timeline, and provide capital and risk sharing for retailers and developers.

Shopping Centers

TREND identifies, evaluates, acquires, and improves service-oriented community shopping centers in select urban neighborhoods. TREND also assembles teams of Black professionals to manage the properties; creates opportunities for Black-owned businesses to lease storefronts; and structures the deals to enable Black entrepreneurs, community members and other small impact investors to invest and financially benefit as owners of the shopping centers.

TREND currently owns five shopping centers with the near-term goal to acquire up to ten additional properties and help up to 1,500 Black, local, and small impact investors to own as much as 49% of this commercial real estate portfolio.

$30 million invested by TREND in five urban shopping centers in Chicago, IL and Baltimore, MD

Retail Market Opportunities

Current Neighborhood / Trade Area Status

Neighborhood / Trade Area Trajectories

Advisory Services

TREND helps minority-owned businesses and Black developers secure financing for targeted projects and to grow their operations. TREND also assists community-based organizations to advance catalytic commercial real estate and other development projects.

TREND advises corporations, philanthropic organizations and impact investors, helping them to evaluate and structure grant and program related investments for community development projects. TREND has been engaged by organizations such as the Urban Land Institute, Pritzker Traubert Foundation, Chicago Community Trust and JP Morgan Chase.

60 companies served through a range of services in Chicago, IL (and Rochester, NY) focused on helping small businesses obtain financing for targeted projects