>> My name is Dave Butcher.
I'm president and partner of WCI Partners LP.
We are a real estate development company focused on urban revitalization,
primarily in the city of Harrisburg.
You know, a lot of our urban centers are struggling with a lot
of similar distinct problems, loss of population, loss of investment,
loss of businesses, so our company focuses on trying to bring residents back into the city,
businesses back into the city by investing in existing real estate
and making it attractive for them to locate there.
An example is the project that we worked on for about a year.
It was called "Old Uptown," which entails the renovation and construction
of about 120 properties within a four block area.
Before we started that project, it was one of the worst neighborhoods in the city.
One of the corners there was known as Green and Murder.
Along the street, there were three murders between 2002 and 2006.
We went in and started buying up vacant, boarded-up properties, turning them over,
basically, like ripping everything out, gutting them completely, putting in new mechanical,
electrical, plumbing systems, so on and so forth, and selling them to new homeowners
and basically turning the neighborhood around.
We started by picking up trash on the streets three times a week,
getting to know who owned the properties, how to track down the owners,
and planting trees, putting up streetlights.
So it was really a comprehensive, community development project.
So I manage all of our projects and all of our daily operations,
which basically entails acquisitions, construction, sales, leasing, financing.
Everything that you can think of that real estate touches upon,
I'm involved in it on a day-to-day basis.