The Suit Magazine

Attorney Albert “Butch” Hopkins, CEO and President of the Anacostia Economic Development Corporation, models himself after activist-lawyer Ralph Nader, the 1960s consumer advocate who took on government agencies, and ultimately served as an American hero to working class Americans. “He was always doing his ‘Nader’s list’ [a phrase Nader created] to watch over government agencies or government administrations to make sure they were doing the right thing,” Hopkins told The Suit Magazine in September.

For the past 35 years, the AEDC has been on the frontlines of economic development, working for those underserved in Washington D.C. “I saw a need to amend the corporation’s articles of incorporation and create a community development corporation that could do acquisitions and development of real property, to really plan for the transformation of underserved and depressed neighborhoods,” he added. “So that’s basically how I got into it.”   AEDC has made positive changes in the D.C. area. In the 1990s, Hopkins said, “We developed a shopping center anchored by a major supermarket to show that we support retailers, and that retailers could do well in underserved neighborhoods.”

So far, the agency has developed retail facilities, office buildings, residential properties, and first time residences, and generally improved the quality of life for the Anacostia Southeast D.C. community. He’s also encouraged small businesses to move into the nation’s capital. “Through the Office of Community Services (OCS), now the Office of Community Services of the Federal Department of Health and Human Services, AEDC was able to access its venture capital fund and initiate development and investment projects,” he said. “We secured a grant to purchase District Cablevision, Inc.’s (now Comcast Cable) stock at $10 a share and that share grew to $300 per share.  We were able to sell the shares and reinvest the proceeds into development projects that benefited the Anacostia/Far Southeast communities. In the 1980s, we formed a real estate development company with two other CDCs from New York and Los Angeles, respectively, and secured a million dollar grant from OCS to invest in a to be built office and retail development project in downtown Washington, DC with a majority owned development entity. That development now consists of over 1.5 million square feet of office and retail space with an additional 500,000 square feet to be built. The return on that investment supports development projects in the respective target areas of the three CDCs.”

Hopkins networks with city government agencies, often building long-term relationships with countless directors in various departments. “You have good relationships with one department over a four year period,” he explained in a clipped tone. “The next thing you know, they get a new director and you have to start all over again. The hardest thing you have to work with is the changing nature of government. It’s just amazing.”

The corporation has placed key importance on housing development and commercial revitalization, including small- and minority-business assistance, job creation and venture development.  Throughout the years, the agency has urbanized single and multi-family housing, neighborhood retail, office projects and a shopping center to serve residents who live east of the Anacostia River in Washington DC.  “We do housing and real estate development. In 2008, we built a three story office building,” Hopkins said. “We also engaged in projects with software companies that hire in our community. We recently worked with a company in getting them to expand into the District of Columbia. They have the ability to create 300 to 500 jobs.”

He has reached out to the highest levels of government. “We are also working with the US General Services Administration (GSA) which is managing the development of the Department of Homeland Security, the largest federal complex being built in the US, which will be located on the West Campus of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital,” he said.

As president and CEO of a major agency, Hopkins has learned to overcome many obstacles over time. “You must know what you don’t know, and you have to hire what you need and what you don’t have,” he said. “And pay what is necessary to acquire the best. Do what you say and deliver it; you have to say what you mean. My favorite is: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’”

Hopkins offers some sage advice to young entrepreneurs entering the corporate world: “Patience. It is a necessary trait that you must have because many things are changing in the corporate world, and you have to stay the course.”

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