HBCU Real Estate Holdings Represent Untapped Strategic Power, Industry Expert Argues

Historically Black Colleges and Universities are sitting on significant real estate assets that could serve as powerful tools for financial sustainability and community protection, but many institutions lack the strategic planning resources to fully capitalize on their land holdings, according to a senior advisor at HR&A Advisors.

Derek Fleming, who has worked on real estate planning with Clark Atlanta University, argues that HBCUs must shift their approach to campus land from a facilities function to a strategic asset that can generate capital while protecting surrounding Black communities from displacement.

The urgency stems from rapidly changing conditions around HBCU campuses nationwide. Fleming points to the transformation occurring near Clark Atlanta University, where corporate investment is flowing into previously disinvested neighborhoods. From Walmart's reinvestment in nearby Vine City to destination-scale projects like Centennial Yards, capital is moving into areas that were historically overlooked because they were predominantly Black.

"That shift raises the stakes for whether the neighborhoods Clark Atlanta has historically buffered and protected will remain intact, recognizable, and rooted in the community that sustained them, or transform in ways that sever growth from cultural continuity and Black ownership," Fleming writes.

The Saint Augustine's Case Study

The challenges facing Saint Augustine's University illustrate what happens without long-term land stewardship strategy. The institution, one of the nation's oldest HBCUs, has faced financial distress and accreditation pressures that pushed it into conversations about leasing large portions of its campus as a financial lifeline.

When HBCUs sell property to meet short-term needs, they risk surrendering long-term control on holdings that shape the cultural makeup of the surrounding area.



However, when they lease land, form joint ventures, or establish cultural trusts, they preserve ownership while unlocking capital.

Fleming contrasts HBCU approaches with predominantly white institutions like Columbia, NYU, and Vanderbilt, which treat real estate as strategic assets rather than merely facilities. Their campuses operate as living portfolios where development decisions reinforce institutional power alongside educational mission.

A Path Forward Through Feasibility Studies

Fleming proposes a practical solution: resourcing HBCUs to conduct rigorous feasibility and highest-and-best-use studies that clarify what their land can support and how development can advance institutional mission while protecting community interests.

Such studies would allow HBCUs to approach partnerships as informed principals rather than reactive landholders. Fleming suggests philanthropy could play a catalytic role by underwriting these feasibility studies through targeted grants, creating a national pipeline of HBCU-led development.

Fleming draws on his first visit to Howard University during its homecoming celebrations, when he was a student at UC Berkeley. That experience revealed to him that HBCUs offered more than education—they were places where culture became capital.

"HBCUs have always been more than centers of education. They are cultural anchors, land stewards, and economic engines for Black communities," Fleming writes. "Long before 'cultural districts' became a planning concept, HBCUs were already playing that role, creating ecosystems of housing, business, art, music, and civic leadership in the cities where they grew."

As public funding remains uncertain and enrollment costs rise, land values around many HBCU campuses are climbing faster than institutions can capitalize on them. Without intentional strategy, Fleming warns, history risks repeating itself as Black institutions are surrounded, displaced, or disconnected from the communities they were built to serve.

Derek Fleming is a senior advisor at HR&A Advisors, working nationally at the intersection of real estate, culture, and economic development.

Originally reported by Black Enterprise.