Incremental development can be zero to three stories — here, we take it one story at a time.
By: Chris Allen
Financing is one of the biggest barriers to rebuilding a healthy ecosystem of small-scale development. Many communities have changed their zoning, adopted housing plans, or expressed support for missing middle housing, but the projects still do not happen at the pace people expect. One reason is simple: the capital system is not built for the kind of small, local, incremental projects that many neighborhoods need most.
Read MoreAve Mondie and Aric Hotchkiss, who together lead Hopscotch Construction in Memphis, TN, approach development with a shared interest in bringing neglected properties back to life—and finding ways to make that work both healthier and more replicable.
Read MoreJT Malasri's first development project transformed two vacant lots into four new homes, demonstrating how small-scale infill can strengthen existing neighborhoods. His story explores how an Incremental Development Alliance Boot Camp gave him the confidence and practical tools to turn that vision into reality.
Read MoreOriginally constructed as a house in 1858, this Memphis building later became the home of Griggs Business and Practical Arts College, one of the first historically Black colleges in Memphis. IncDev alumni Stephanie Wade-Armado has a vision to restore the two-story building and transform the half-acre property into a mixed-use destination with apartments on the upper floor and light retail below.
Read MoreBloomington, Indiana is Indiana's most housing cost-burdened metro area. Now, on the site of the former IU Health Bloomington hospital, the city has a rare shot at something different: a neighborhood built close to downtown and designed around the people who call Bloomington home, not just the next wave of student housing.
Read MoreIncDev alumni Bryce Morrow's development journey shows how small, incremental projects can grow into lasting community investments. Beginning with a pioneering ADU conversion in Portland, he steadily expanded into larger adaptive reuse projects—including Oregon City Brewing and the Canby Beer Library—while embracing hands-on project management, creative financing, and a commitment to preserving existing buildings and strengthening neighborhoods one project at a time.
Read MoreAndre Jones has spent decades investing in the Memphis neighborhood where he lives and works. A builder by trade, he grew up around construction; his father was a brick mason, and he and his brother eventually became general contractors building homes in the suburbs. But over time, Jones became increasingly interested in a different kind of development: smaller footprint, higher quality housing that could strengthen existing neighborhoods rather than expand outward.
Read MoreWhen Incremental Development Alliance teaching faculty Ivy Vann and her husband bought their 1895 Victorian in Peterborough, NH, they weren't setting out to become developers. They were looking for a home for their family. The 6,000-square-foot former mansion had already lived many lives—as a nursing home, boarding house, youth hostel, and bed-and-breakfast—and Ivy saw another chapter waiting to be written.
Read MoreJen Acosta is a developer, housing strategist and IncDev faculty. Here, she shares the story of one of her current pioneering projects in Bay City, Michigan—a contaminated former mill site that is being remediated and turned into over 80 new apartments and commercial spaces.
Read MoreWith insight and encouragement from Incremental Development Alliance, Cameron Brewer tackled the adaptive reuse of a 1930s garage, reinventing it as a restaurant and center for community in Norman, Oklahoma
Read MoreBy: Chris Allen
Cleveland is showing what a new local housing playbook can look like. Now comes the hopeful work of building the people and systems that can make it real.
Across the country, local leaders are realizing something important: housing cannot be treated as a standalone problem. It is not separate from economic development, infrastructure, small business growth, neighborhood repair, public finance, or whether the next generation of families can stay in the communities they love. Housing is the connective tissue of local prosperity.
Read MoreJoel Dixon is a faculty member at the Incremental Development Alliance and Co-Principal of Urban Oasis Development, a real estate company focused on residential and commercial development on Atlanta's south and westside. Born and raised on the westside, Dixon is dedicated to building secure, inclusive neighborhoods in the community that raised him. Perhaps his most unique and forward-thinking project is the new 918 Dill Ave development, which unites a community land trust, grocery store, gathering place, and apartments.
Read MoreBy: Chris Allen
The Guardian recently published a useful piece on how far American cities lag behind their global peers on public transportation.
One number from the article jumped out: bringing major American cities up to “world-class” transit standards would require roughly $4.6 trillion over 20 years.
That sounds enormous.
Until you compare it with the roughly $6.3 trillion the United States is projected to spend on highways over that same period.
Read MoreFamily can be seen at the heart of the projects Greg has developed. His family’s history and future is found in both their local restaurant, Johnson’s Boucainiere, and the St. John Street development.
Gregory started out in the construction industry over 30 years ago, working with his father, C. Phil Walls. He started his firm, Walls-Studio in 1994.
Gregory is philosophical about his early years in the field: “I wish I wouldn’t have had to build in subdivisions for the first 10 to 15 years of my life, but it was a path for me to be able to do this, now.”
Read MoreBy: Chris Allen
One of the most important housing policy questions is also one of the most uncomfortable:
What happened to the bottom rung of the housing ladder?
I first became aware of incremental development through listening to a podcast from the Switchyards team in Atlanta on which they interviewed Eric Kronberg. He was discussing human scale design and breaking the city down into micro economies. I had the pleasure of spending some great quality time with Jim on a couple occasions when he visited Greensboro, and he said no one should have to go outside of their neighborhood to get essentials: Basic groceries, coffee, a meal, a beer, or a place to meet friends.
Read MoreWhen IncDev alumnus Pete Cioe first purchased the fixer-upper, it was almost literally his only possession. Pete had sold everything he owned in North Dallas and purchased a small trailer that he parked behind the house. He lived in the trailer throughout construction, trying (and often failing) to prevent break-ins. At the time, asbestos was covering two-thirds of the house. It needed a new driveway, new windows, and new siding. But Pete saw the house’s potential. He was still a relatively new resident of Dallas, and he wanted to live in a neighborhood with a strong sense of place and feeling of home. He realized that no one else was coming to create that place for him, so he decided to bet on himself.
Read MoreNathaniel Barrett, a Dallas-based accountant, attended IncDev’s second workshop in Oak Cliff, TX in 2016. Going into the training, he had a side-hustle development project in mind, but working with IncDev cofounder Monte Anderson helped him realize that the project wasn’t doable. Disappointed but undeterred, Nathaniel went back to his Old East Dallas community and purchased an abandoned commercial building on the 500 block of S Fitzhugh Ave, just down the street from his house, that had been on the market for years with no interest.
Nathaniel says it quickly became evident why the nearly 9000 square foot space hadn’t sold; it was “in terrible, terrible shape.” He thinks many developers in his shoes would have torn it down and built from scratch.
Read MoreGeorgia native and IncDev alumnus Jonathan Digioia is a self-professed nerd. A transportation engineer by trade, he spends his days thinking through systems and processes, and he’s invested in best practices for city planning.
“I want to help do things well and do things right as far as designing places goes,” he says.
Jonathan learned about IncDev through a member of his church who had attended a workshop and thought it might be up his alley. At the time, he’d never done a development project, but he and his wife Katelyn were starting to discuss buying their first home. They initially intended to purchase a standard, single-family home, but attending the workshop opened their eyes to other possibilities.
Read MoreNeil Heller is an urban planner, designer, and small-scale developer based in Portland, Oregon. A member of IncDev’s faculty, Neil emphasizes “pro forma-powered planning,” ensuring that local land use policies (like zoning) align with what’s economically feasible.
His work on Portland’s Residential Infill Project helped to allow for additional density in neighborhoods in exchange for affordable units. Heller’s development math—informed by real world experience—showed how the extra units would help affordable housing developers be able to compete for land in high-amenity neighborhoods.
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