Renovating more than houses
Brothers who know value of owning a home fix up residential, commercial real estate
Brothers David Griggs and Gregory Davis absorbed many lessons growing up on Milwaukee’s north side.
That included seeing firsthand how owning a home helps create stability — and wealth.
“We didn’t have to worry about a situation about getting kicked out of our home for not paying rent,” Griggs said. “That was different from a lot of people’s situations.”
Also, owning real estate has historically “been a way to grow wealth and pass it down from generation to generation,” Davis said.
Griggs, 33, and Davis, 31, operate One 5 Olive LLC, which buys central city Milwaukee houses, renovates them and then resells the properties. They started that firm in 2016 before returning to their hometown from the Minneapolis area, where both men attended college and got started in real estate.
Their business also is venturing into commercial development with the pending purchase of a small mixed-use building in the Harambee neighborhood.
The firm’s core mission remains the same for both residential and commercial properties.
“It’s about building neighborhoods,” Davis said. “It’s crucial.”
To that end, One 5 Olive is playing a small role in chipping away at the nation’s wealth gap for minority families.
The net worth of a typical white family in 2016 was $171,000, compared with $17,150 for a typical Black family, according to the Brookings Institution, a public policy group based in Washington.
“Gaps in wealth between Black and white households reveal the effects of accumulated inequality and discrimination, as well as differences in power and opportunity that can be traced back to this nation’s inception,” the institution’s February report said.
One factor is white families receiving much larger inheritances than Black families, the report said.
That includes wealth accumulated through higher home ownership rates, according to a 2018 report from the Urban Institute, a Washington-based social and economic policy research organization.
In the heavily segregated Milwaukee metro area, the effects can be seen in some central city neighborhoods where a lack of jobs and wealth is tied to
higher crime rates.
Milwaukee has the second-lowest Black home ownership rate among the nation’s largest metropolitan areas (27.2%), according to a new study by University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Center for Economic Development.
Griggs and Davis grew up near Rufus King International High School, in a neighborhood filled with attractive brick and stone houses.
They were raised in a home owned by their grandparents, James and Dorsey Davis, near North 15th and West Olive streets — hence the One 5 Olive business name.
The brothers attended the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul, after graduating from Brown Deer High School.
And both worked for property management firms in the Minneapolis area, where their tasks included maintaining and operating apartments, office buildings and other facilities.
They wanted the greater independence, and potential for higher wealth, that come from operating their own business.
Otherwise, Griggs said, “You’re basically just making money for others.”
“Over the long term, when it comes to building generational wealth,” he said, “you need to get on the ownership side.”
They launched One 5 Olive in 2016 while still working for a property management firm in the Minneapolis area.
Faced with high home prices in the Twin Cities — even for fixer-uppers — they targeted Milwaukee houses.
Their research included attending Plan Commission meetings to see how other developments were handled.
That attracted the attention of Joaquín Altoro, then a commission member and Town Bank’s vice president of commercial banking.
He talked to the brothers, and was impressed with their diligence and interest in doing small projects in central city neighborhoods. Altoro introduced them to city officials, commercial lenders and others.
Also, Griggs and Davis went through the Associates in Commercial Real Estate program, which provides training and mentors for minorities interested in commercial development.
“They took advantage of that,” said Altoro, now chief executive officer of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority.
Altoro said it’s important for people of color to be involved in development.
“We can have an impact on our own communities,” he said.
Using a line of credit that Griggs secured from Wells Fargo Bank, the brothers bought a house in the 4600 block of West Townsend Street as their first project.
It ended up taking twice as long to renovate as they had expected.
Despite the higher than anticipated costs, they were able to “make a little bit of money” when they sold it, Davis said. And that helped finance their next home purchase.
Also, just “diving in” to the project amounted to a valuable learning experience, Davis said.
Meanwhile, the Minneapolis firm where they worked outsourced its property management division to another company.
So, by early 2018, both brothers had moved back to Milwaukee to pursue their new business full-time.
They have since bought and renovated eight houses on Milwaukee’s near west and north sides. Six homes have been resold, and the other two homes are being rented to their residents.
They look for houses that have sound structures but still need major repairs, such as a new roof or furnace. The idea is to control both acquisition and remodeling costs so the houses are affordable for their new owners.
Griggs and Davis do much of the work themselves.
“With the right tool and the right YouTube video, you can do most anything,” Griggs said.
Their grandparents and their mother, Mary Davis, helped instill a strong work ethic.
“As kids, we were entrepreneurial about cutting grass and snow shoveling,” Davis said.
And their grandfather, a pastor, did a lot of work around the house.
“He believed if you put in the work and you put your mind do it, you can do about anything,” Davis said.
Their venture into commercial development involves a new firm, Olive Rentals LLC, buying a two-story, 1,844square-foot building, at 400 E. Locust St., from the city for $15,000.
The Common Council on Tuesday approved the sale of the building, which once housed Steff ’s Bar and Lounge. The city acquired it through property tax foreclosure in 2015.
The brothers plan to spend $62,000 on renovations, according to a Department of City Development report. The building was constructed in 1875.
The upper-floor apartment will be remodeled, with the first-floor commercial space renovated for a massage therapist moving from another site.
Their plans for the Locust Street building drew praise from members of the Common Council’s Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee.
“It’s great to see,” said Ald. Milele Coggs, whose district includes the Harambee neighborhood.
Griggs and Davis are committed to Milwaukee, said Ald. Ashanti Hamilton, whose district includes the Rufus King neighborhood where the brothers grew up and now reside.
Both men said they want to continue investing in their hometown.
And the brothers are mindful of the role they are playing — particularly in light of Milwaukee’s long history of racial segregation, and its effects on the ability of Black families to accumulate wealth.
“It’s definitely in the back of the mind,” Griggs said. “But I wouldn’t say it’s something we think about constantly.”
Much of that goes back to growing up in a stable home, and a stable neighborhood.
“It was the home base,” Davis said. “Not only for us, but our whole family. Realizing you always have a place to go, no matter what the situation is.
“We definitely understand that now,” he said.