I recently had the good fortune to tour the offices of Cherokee on 111 East Hargett Street in downtown Raleigh. The opportunity arose through a personal contact, who, until the recent economic downturn, had been heavily involved with Cherokee’s non-profit arm, Cherokee Gives Back. It began with a simple conversation several months ago when my friend became pleasantly surprised by my interest in Cherokee and their brownfield redevelopment efforts. I had come to know Cherokee while studying urban planning several years ago, when the firm was being touted by a professor as one of the “good guys” in the development world. (I continue to hold the same opinion after coming to know the firm at a much more intimate level.)
A brief pause in the story to give a history of Cherokee and it’s development to become a cutting-edge, sustainable development firm. From Cherokee’s website:
In 1984, a group of investors including Tom Darden purchased four brick plants and merged them to form Cherokee Sanford Group (CSG), which grew to become the largest privately held brick manufacturer in North America. When we discovered petroleum-contaminated soil at one of the plant sites, the regulators suggested taking the impaired soil to a nearby landfill. As an alternative, CSG proposed mixing it with clean clay in the brick-making process. The combustion in the kilns burned up the fuel oil in the soil. From this beginning, CSG started a business of receiving contaminated clay from underground storage tank clean-ups. By 1990, CSG was the largest soil remediator in the mid-Atlantic region, eventually cleaning up nearly 15 million tons of contaminated material.
Tom Darden and John Mazzarino formed the predecessor company of Cherokee in 1993 to focus exclusively on environmentally impaired assets. In 1994 they organized a risk management advisory affiliate and then formed Cherokee's first institutional capital (Fund I) in 1996. Cherokee formed a $250 million private equity fund (Fund II) in 1998, a $620 million fund (Fund III) in 2002, and its current, $1.2 billion fund (Fund IV) in 2005.
Elsewhere on the firm’s website it states that the capital has now grown to nearly $2 billion under management in Fund IV. Make no mistake that Cherokee is in business to make a profit for their investors, but unlike many other developers, they are seeking to achieve that goal by developing sustainable properties, often on formerly contaminated soil.
Initial discussions with my friend gave way, to more serious, sit-down discussions about his previous role with Cherokee. Eventually he loaned me the book Architecture in Times of Need – Make It Right Rebuilding New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward. I read the entire book that day and learned that my friend, Samuel Whitt, was involved with Cherokee Gives Back such that he is currently the only board member of the Make It Right Foundation, although he later told me that they have one board member confirmed to soon join and several others in various stages of discussions.
After one of our discussions, Sam took me on a tour of Cherokee’s Offices in downtown Raleigh, where I met John Mazzarino and Tom Darden, both of whom were friendly and engaging. The real reason for the office visit was to show me Cherokees offices, where they retrofit (in conjunction with property owner Empire Hardhat), a 100 year old furniture store into one of the few Leed Platinum renovation projects in the US. The AIA wrote a fantastically detailed article about the renovation if you follow the link, so there is no need for me to go into detail, but please take a look. The project is very interesting and highlights many of the challenges posed when trying to upfit an old structure into a “green” office building.
Finally, the connection between Cherokee Gives Back and Make It Right goes all the way to the beginnings of MIR. I don’t know all the details, (although they can be found in the book which I referenced earlier), but my understanding is that sometime between late 2006 and early 2007, Tom Darden (CEO Cherokee), Samuel Whitt, William McDonough and others met with Brad Pitt to discuss his ideas to help out the residents of the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans. This was in response to Pitt’s widely publicized criticisms of the Federal Government’s slow response to help the residents of New Orleans. More detailed information about the mission and history of MIR can be at Make It Right.org.
Personal opinions vary widely on the success of the Make It Right Foundation. However, when many were sitting on their hands, they came in, and through donations, have almost met the original goal of 150 houses and continue to make home ownership (specifically for residents returning to rebuild in the Lower Ninth Ward) a viable option. I recognize that many of the houses are non-traditional, some seem too theoretical or idealistic, but in the end they will be safer, healthier (and hopefully) more affordable houses for the families living in them. More information about the goals for the houses and the homeowner process can again be found on MIR’s website.
This article was not so much about determining the values and successes of the Make It Right Foundation, so much as it was intended to publicize the crucial role that a local firm, Cherokee, played in helping get MIR up and running. Cherokee, through Cherokee Gives Back provided the manhours and expertise to get the ball rolling, by working with Brad Pitt and William McDonough + Partners among many others, including many New Orleans residents. Cherokee also provided the critical institutional infrastructure when the foundation was formed, donations began to roll in and administrative functions were needed. Very quietly, and from hundreds of miles away, a Raleigh firm played a big role in getting what has become a very nationally recognized foundation off the ground. And that’s just one aspect of what Cherokee Gives Back has been busy doing over the past few years.
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