In mid-2020, shortly after the murder of George Floyd and civil unrest that followed, Taylor Smrikarova was hired to focus on the real estate recovery work along Lake Street for Redesign, a nonprofit community developer. Redesign has raised $48 million and completed several projects in Longfellow. In 2024, one of Redesign’s largest projects, the Coliseum Building near the intersection of Lake Street and Minnehaha Avenue, will open after $29 million of redevelopment. Co-owned with three BIPOC developers, it will serve as a hub for BIPOC entrepreneurs. “My job [was] essentially land banking several buildings that had opportunity,” Smrikarova says, “but the community needed to heal before they could meet those opportunities.”

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