Urbane, also known as Urbane Development, is a Brooklyn community development firm founded in 2008 by James Johnson-Piett. It works in three lanes: community investment, place-based development and strategic advisory. The firm’s focus is what it calls community anchors, meaning storefront businesses, local producers and faith-based groups, and its flagship project is Flatbush Central, a food hall and small business hub on Caton Avenue in Brooklyn. Its case studies run from New York and Philadelphia to Detroit and New England, and it also works on public and affordable housing. Urbane was a co-developer and community partner, with Fairstead and BRP Companies, on the $636 million Reid & Park Rock rehabilitation of 1,696 NYCHA apartments in East Brooklyn, completed in October 2026.
“Win the Corner, Win the Block, Win the Neighborhood.” The slogan is doing real work here, because it describes a sequence rather than a sentiment: start with one building, and structure it so the people nearby end up holding part of it.
Urbane sprouted its wings in 2008, out of Philadelphia. Since then it reports more than $225 million in completed development, 1.3 million square feet delivered and a pipeline near three million square feet, run by three dedicated teams — one each for development, community investing and advisory.
Flatbush Central is the flagship and the clearest statement of method. A $134 million, 14-story building in Brooklyn with 255 affordable units, it preserved the Caribbean marketplace on the site and relocated 29 legacy vendors rather than clearing them out. That distinction between redevelopment and displacement is the pitch.
The financial architecture is unusual for a firm this size. Brick and Bond is the capital management platform; the Urbane CARE Fund is a pilot Community Investment Vehicle structured as a neighborhood REIT, intended to let residents share in the appreciation of property around them instead of only absorbing its effects.
Founding principal and chief executive James Johnson-Piett brings a track record from outside real estate as well as inside it. He reports work in more than 100 communities across North America and the Caribbean, more than 1,500 small businesses touched, over 1.5 million square feet of commercial and community facility space, co-development of more than $800 million in mixed-use impact real estate including 2,000-plus affordable units, and more than $225 million raised for small business and asset-building initiatives. Earlier, he designed Detroit’s Green Grocer Project, a $55 million revolving loan fund credited with helping attract Whole Foods and Meijer to the city, which took a 2015 IEDC Bronze Star Award.
He also chairs the Centers of Excellence Federation, a ten-city network, and sits as board chairman of Mangrove Community Wealth, Inc.
The advisory and research side carries its own case list: Arverne East, The Steps at Saratoga, the NYC Cannabis Equity Study, Reimagine Middle Branch, Southwest BIO Cares, Le Baobab, and a feasibility study for the 13th Regiment Armory. Affiliated brands include Flatbush Central, Small Biz Mobility, Built By Philly and Mangrove Community Wealth.
Johnson-Piett’s recognitions include Crain’s New York Notable Leader in Real Estate in 2022, a Boston Impact Initiative ARC Fellowship from 2020 to 2022, an Aspen Ideas Festival Fellowship in 2019, and a place on Brooklyn Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture in 2016.
Worth knowing before you call: the company publishes no street address or phone number on its own website, so inquiries go through its contact form.
