Kwame Jackson ~ View topic

Joined: 29 Jul 2004 Posts: 148

http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,14821,00.html?tnews

... In recent weeks, Trump has authored a book, launched a magazine, created a board game and filed for a trademark for Trump University, a new enterprise that will offer "educational services in the nature of conducting online courses in the fields of business and real estate." Oh yeah, his casinos also went bankrupt.

Meanwhile, Apprentice runner-up Kwame Jackson just wrapped up a $3.8 billion real-estate deal in Maryland to develop 500 acres of commercial and residential property, Ereka Ventrini landed a job as cohost on Tony Danza's new talk show, and the weddings of Katrina Campins and Sam Solovey were chronicled in People magazine.

The Apprentice season one DVD was released by NBC Universal on Friday. The Apprentice 2 debuts Sept. 9 on NBC. Casting for season three just wrapped in Seattle Aug. 7.

...It will be hard to trump the success of the original show, however. It was a ratings mega-hit for the Peacock network, averaging nearly 21 million viewers each week and more than 40 million for the finale, and has exponentially increased Trump's exposure and given the world a slew of new reality stars, including winner Bill Rancic and the now singularly named Omarosa.

Joined: 29 Jul 2004 Posts: 148

$3.7B project planned

by Aruna Jain
Staff Writer
Aug. 27, 2004
http://www.gazette.net/200435/business/news/233037-1.html

Developers say Prince George's complex means 32,000 jobs

An erstwhile television celebrity and Prince George's County real estate magnates plan to build a $3.7 billion, 477-acre mixed-use development on Pennsylvania Avenue near Suitland Parkway.

The project would trump the county's largest planned development -- Karington, near Bowie -- in both size and scope and add to the rapidly developing southern county landscape.

Kwame Jackson, who earlier this year gained national fame on NBC's "The Apprentice," Kenneth Michael of NAI Michael Cos., Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., Senate President Thomas V. "Mike" Miller Jr. and state Sen. Ulysses Currie were among the notables who gathered at Presidential Parkway and Route 4 for the announcement Wednesday.

First, Ehrlich (R) announced $73 million in state funding to build an interchange at the oft-congested Route 4-Suitland/Presidential Parkway intersection. That money cleared the path for the mixed-use development, called Rosewood. Construction on the interchange will start in 2008 and is to be completed in 2011.

Development officials said the Rosewood project could take 10-plus years to build. The construction and completion date depend on a host of factors, including the county permit process, officials said.

The developers estimate 32,000 jobs will be created as a result of the Rosewood project, according to Erik Moses, president of Legacy Development Partners LLC of New York and a longtime friend of Jackson. Moses said his company plans to open offices in Prince George's county within the next year.

Jackson, a Harvard Business School graduate who worked on Wall Street, lived in Washington, D.C., until he was 8.

"'The Apprentice' gave me a unique platform to create sustainable economic enterprises," Jackson said of the popular television show on which he was a runner-up. He called Rosewood a "new urbanism concept," where people can live, work and play.

"We want to release this jewel of Prince George's County to the nation," Jackson said.

The project takes its name from the prosperous black community named Rosewood in Florida that was burned down in a 1923 massacre by a mob of angry whites.

Legacy Development Partners has an equity stake in the Rosewood development along with NAI Michael Cos., MTM Builder/Developer of Upper Marlboro and smaller investors such as Gary S. Murray of HumanVision in Landover. Renderings on display at the event showed a community complete with high-end office space, commercial, residential and retail development.

Moses said the group approached executives at NAI Michael Cos. in Lanham after learning of the Michael family's history and experience in the county. He said he and Jackson wanted to see a world-class development come to the county.

"Prince George's County is home to the most affluent African-Americans in the country, and it is one of four counties that surround Washington, D.C., but it is the least developed," Moses said.

The project will include corporate offices that meet new federal design specifications for high-security buildings, said Gary Michael, president of NAI Michael Cos.

Gary Michael said he expects the development to attract corporate headquarters and a strong federal presence. The project will include high-end luxury homes, condominiums and a technology school.

Ehrlich called it a great day for Prince George's County.

"These projects need to get built as a function of congestion and safety," said Ehrlich. "This is the ultimate bipartisan initiative."

He credited Miller (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach for helping pass the transportation package through the Senate.

Miller in turn credited Currie (D-Dist. 25) of Forestville for his work on the bill.

Prince George's County officials said the project would bring much-needed employment to the county.

"It's all jobs, it's all growth," said Kwasi Holman, president of Prince George's Economic Development Corp. The $73 million highway project "goes a long way to putting us on the map."

Kenneth Michael said a mixed-use development was proposed at the site 20 years ago, but inadequate roads and other infrastructure doomed the project.

"I'm a results-oriented person," Kenneth Michael said. "The former governor was a friend of mine, so was the previous governor. And this guy steps in and it happens. What can I say? Thank you," he said to Ehrlich.

Economic empowerment is the charge of the second generation of black Americans since the civil rights movement, Jackson said.

"It's not about accessing the bus and sitting on the bus," he said. "It's about owning the bus."