Julio Peterson

Part-time fall 1997 and
spring 1998.

Photo by Doug Cogger.

Julio Peterson was recently appointed Director of the Washington Heights Neighborhood Strategies Project. For the past seven years, Mr. Peterson has served in a variety of roles managing the development of commercial and residential properties in blighted New York City neighborhoods. He most recently held the position of Director for the Neighborhood Builders Program and Minority Contractor Assistance Loan Program under the N.Y.C. Housing Partnership. As Director, Mr. Peterson identified minority-owned construction firms for entry into the affordable housing development arena. He assisted these companies in finalizing construction budgets, securing public/private properties, and financing. The projects have provided home-ownership and entrepreneurial opportunities in "marginal" neighborhoods such as East Harlem Bedford-Stuyvesant and the South Bronx. In addition, he managed a $1.0 million Revolving Loan Fund, sponsored by Citibank N.A., to provide working capital loans to minority-owned construction firms.

Mr. Peterson previously served as Senior Project Manager at the N.Y.C. Economic Development Corporation (EDC) managing the development of public/private commercial real estate projects in Manhattan. His EDC projects included redeveloping the Audubon Ballroom as a biotechnology research facility and a memorial to Malcolm X. Mr. Peterson also managed East Harlem's Pathmark Supercenter, Julia De Burgos Latino Cultural Center, and served on the East Harlem Economic Development Zone Board. Prior to this work, Mr. Peterson was a Project Manager at the N.Y.C Public Development Corporation.

As a Loeb Fellow, Mr. Peterson studied and sought to formulate economic models which maximize private and local financial participation in community development projects.