Leon I. Walker, JD/MBA, '94: His Thoughts on Investing in South Side Neighborhoods and his Time at UChicago
Uncommon Interview: Leon Walker, Developer of Woodlawn Jewel-Osco
Leon I. Walker (J.D. ’94, M.B.A. ’94) grew up on the South Side of Chicago and hopes to play a key role in its development. As a managing partner at DL3 Realty, he has developed a range of projects that intend to reinvigorate disinvested neighborhoods, including the major Englewood Square development centered on a Whole Foods that opened in 2016.
One of his more recent projects, developing Woodlawn’s new Jewel-Osco, has brought him back to the neighborhoods he grew up in. The Jewel will open on March 7 after almost three years of development.
The Maroon sat down with Walker to discuss his background, his time at the University, the new Jewel-Osco and its implications for Woodlawn, and his approach to community development and revitalization.
CM: Can you talk about your time at UChicago, what your time at UChicago Law and Booth was like, and how it’s had an impact on your work?
LW: For me, being an investor on the South Side of the city in disinvested neighborhoods…requires being bilingual, sometimes; bicultural, sometimes; but [it also requires] good training and teaching, which I got at the University of Chicago...corporate experience, as well as my background [of] coming up in an entrepreneurial family, working there. You put all that together, and you’re able to come up with a creative approach to invest in and bring in capital to this community.
...I call that approach “venture development.” This [is the] point in the neighborhood’s cycle [where] you bring in private equity capital to help sustain that neighborhood and to also invest in an ethical and responsible way, such that you can have revitalization happen without gentrifying negatively. The difference between revitalization and gentrification is one word: intentionality. You have to be intentional about making sure that you’re engaging the historic populations, the legacy businesses, just the existing residents [and] having them included in your revitalization strategy.
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