Jeremy Liu and Creative Development Partners

Equitable housing reshapes neighborhoods socially and economically. When design, investment, and community collaboration align, development is a catalyst for reparation and underpins healthier, more resilient places. This philosophy is reflected in Jeremy Liu's leadership and in the work of Creative Development Partners.

As Managing Partner, Liu leads Creative Development Partners (CDP), a BIPOC firm whose model is described as a “powerhouse CDC,” bringing together expertise in real estate, community development, complex financing, creative placemaking, and small business support. Through this approach, CDP develops projects and provides advisory and capacity-building services to organizations, municipalities, philanthropies, and healthcare partners.

Over the past two decades, the CDP team delivered real estate projects with a combined value exceeding $1 billion, spanning multifamily affordable housing, market-rate developments, and mixed-use projects. The firm’s experience stretches across several major metropolitan regions, including the San Francisco Bay Area, the Boston metropolitan area, and the Washington metropolitan area.

In the Bay Area, projects have included developments such as the California Hotel, Swan’s Marketplace, and Preservation Park, initiatives that combined residential, retail, and office uses and preserved historic and cultural assets. In Boston, CDP’s work includes large-scale mixed-use developments like The Metropolitan and One Greenway, while in Greater DC, the team has been involved in major urban projects including CityCenterDC and a series of mixed-use residential developments that integrate housing, retail, and public space.

A Development Approach Focused on Community Benefits

Creative Development Partners operates in a “multiple bottom-line” framework through prioritizing investment outcomes alongside sustainability and measurable community impact. The firm calls this strategy Community Benefits by Design, an approach that integrates economic opportunity, cultural vitality, and long-term neighborhood stability into the development process. CDP provides consulting and advisory services, including structured projects through New Markets Tax Credits and Opportunity Zones, building public-private partnerships, and designing collaborations that bring together governments, developers, and mission-driven investors.

They also lead community outreach and stakeholder engagement processes, engineer community benefit agreements, support creative placemaking initiatives, and help incubate local small businesses as part of broader neighborhood revitalization strategies.

Health-Prescribed Housing

One of CDP’s most innovative initiatives is Health-Prescribed Housing (HPH), a model addressing housing insecurity by linking housing development with the healthcare sector. By leveraging investments from the health insurance industry, HPH aims to create new funding streams for affordable and workforce housing while improving health outcomes and long-term economic stability for residents. The initiative, under Jeremy Liu's leadership, is rooted in the interconnectedness of public health, economic mobility, and community well-being.

CDP’s current initiatives including O2 Artisans Aggregate, Equitable Black Berkeley, Vision 980, the San Diego Energy Equity Campus, partnerships with the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation, and Little Manila Rising, all explore new models for equitable development that integrate housing, cultural preservation, and economic opportunity. These projects are supported by CDP’s financing expertise, which includes tools such as historic tax credits, tax-exempt bonds, low-income housing tax credits, affordable housing trust funds, Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), and private equity and debt structures.

Leadership and Industry Engagement

Jeremy Liu is also active in the global real estate community through his involvement with the Urban Land Institute, including participation in the organization’s Health Leaders Network. The initiative brings together professionals focused on improving health outcomes through the built environment. Within that network, leaders such as DCH President Jason Brown, and others contribute to broader conversations about equitable housing development and urban investment strategies.

Future of Community Development

Cities globally face pressures in housing shortages, climate resilience, and economic inequality. Challenges require new approaches to development that balance financial performance with long-term community outcomes. Through development, advisory services, and initiatives such as Health-Prescribed Housing, Creative Development Partners demonstrates how housing can serve as infrastructure for economic mobility and healthier communities. Leaders like Jeremy Liu demonstrate how design, investment, and community collaboration work together to create more resilient places. His work sits at the intersection of housing, community development, and innovative design strategies that prioritize the long-term health of neighborhoods.

Learn more about Creative Development Partners here, and learn more about ULI here.