Dr. Gina Merritt is an award-winning, experienced real estate developer specializing in community development. She has been involved in over 8,000 units of housing in various stages of development, managing the entitlement process, structuring and securing the required financing, managing the design, and the overall construction process.
Dr. Merritt has expertise in managing large development projects with complicated financing and ownership structures. She has also underwritten over $4.0 billion in real estate transactions. Her real estate development expertise includes mixed-use development, apartments, condominiums, single-family homes, and public-private real estate transactions. NREUV’s recent real estate advisory engagements include consulting for the University of Virginia on its Affordable Housing Initiative and consulting for the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority on their Sustainability Study. NREUV is also managing over $300M in development for its own account.
Project Community Capital®(PCC), an award-winning economic empowerment platform, was founded by Dr. Merritt in 2008 and redesigned in 2021 to include the Collective Impact Model. PCC is an innovative platform that bridges the social capital required to connect residents and businesses of underestimated communities with employment and economic opportunities. PCC works with developers, contractors, and public agencies to place individuals in construction and permanent employment. PCC also hosts Heighten the Hustle™, an entrepreneurship accelerator that helps stand-up businesses that operate informally within a neighborhood we serve with our real estate projects.
Dr. Merritt earned a BBA from Howard University, MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia, and a Doctorate in Social Innovation at the University of Southern California. Dr. Merritt’s recent industry recognitions include the Stevie Award for Changemaker of the Year-Race, Baltimore Business Journal’s Leaders in Diversity Award 2022, Enterprising Women of the Year Award 2022, and the Social Innovation Summit Award-Economic Empowerment 2022. She resides in Baltimore, Maryland, with her husband and daughter.