Nicole Robbins leads real estate renaissance along MKE’s MLK Drive
Ever since she was a young girl, Nicole Robbins has been fascinated by real estate.
She fondly remembers how, while in elementary school, she was transfixed by a particular TV program hosted by Shorewest Realtors that shared available local residential and commercial listings.
“Real estate was always on the horizon for me,” Robbins said.
While the technical nuances of real estate deals have always intrigued her, it is the long-term impact that has driven her work over the years.
“Real estate development is one of those areas where it is very transactional, but the end game is really to help people have stability and prosperity in their life,” Robbins said. “I think there is no better way to help people than providing them with housing and business opportunities.”
For the past six years, Robbins has been doing so as executive director of the Martin Luther King Economic Development Corporation. The Foundation honored Robbins with its 2024 Frank Kirkpatrick Award for her leadership in helping transform the landscape of the King Drive corridor and surrounding neighborhoods through housing and commercial development. The award, first given out in 1988, recognizes individuals who have brought about significant physical improvement to the community.
“Being part of that movement to make MLK Drive the best King Drive in the nation is what has kept me at MLK EDC,” said Robbins, who started with the organization in 2014 as a board member. She joined its staff in 2018 as director of housing and real estate development and was named its leader in 2019.
The neighborhood-based nonprofit developer serves as a community resource, connector and organizer for Milwaukee’s Harambee, Halyard Park, Brewers Hill and Riverwest neighborhoods. It has had a long history of strengthening the neighborhoods through affordable apartments and commercial developments. Over the past 30 years MLK EDC has developed more than 190 units for a total of more than $66 million.
One needs only to take a short drive along MLK Drive to see the fruit of its labors. Both sides of the street are flanked by projects like King Drive Commons 1, 2 and 3, which are home to businesses including Rise & Grind Café, NAACP, an art gallery and a BMO bank branch. The organization also developed the Welford Sanders Historic Lofts and Enterprise Center, home to a number of nonprofits.
Since assuming the nonprofit’s leadership role, Robbins has helped usher in a new chapter for the organization – promoting homeownership. She was the brainchild behind its MLK Homes initiative, whereby MLK EDC buys and rehabs tax foreclosed properties and then sells to owner occupants. Along the way, the organization provides a 14-week financial education course for interested homebuyers to further prepare them for success.
The idea was born out of inquiries she received from people in her network and in the community asking her why MLK EDC did not offer single family homes or duplexes to help encourage homeownership.
“There are so many faithful tenants we have that would make the best type of homeowners,” Robbins said. “It’s important for us to pay it forward and educate people on how to become homeowners and not just keep them as tenants.”
Doing so helps create opportunities for generational wealth, she said, particularly for Black and Brown residents. Robbins is looking to create the same opportunity for minority developers.
“That is part of my personal platform and mission,” said Robbins, who makes a concerted effort to collaborate with graduates of the Associates in Commercial Real Estate program. Robbins graduated from the program in 2015, following a five-year career as an in-house lawyer with Walgreens corporate headquarters in Chicago.
Her goal is to also expand upon MLK EDC’s mission and Five Points Lofts is one such development. MLK EDC is partnering with KG Development on the $16 million, five story, 55-unit affordable housing development on King Drive between West Concordia and West Keefe avenues. It also is working with One 5 Olive, another ACRE grad-led developer, on a project on King Drive and Burleigh, which will house a grocery store, workforce housing and housing for older adults.
Her goal is to collaborate with more community groups with similar missions to increase development opportunities in Milwaukee, specifically in Harambee. Robbins has a vested interest in making sure the vitality of the neighborhood is strong. Her mother grew up in the area around Fifth and Center streets.
“To be part of an organization that has enhanced the neighborhood so much over the past 30 years and to really focus on things that are important to me where I am helping to increase homeownership in the neighborhood and in greater Milwaukee is touching,” she said.