We are a community-focused investment and project management company.

We connect people with the space and structure to move
their vision forward.

Projects

We consult with individuals and organizations to help make them more effective.

Benefitting local business and the elderly through symbiotic parking space.

The Guild Shop of the Church of St. John the Divine

Houston, Texas

The Guild Shop of the Church of St. John the Divine

In 2018, Kensinger Donnelly consulted with The Guild Shop of the Church of St. John the Divine, a longstanding nonprofit consignment shop in Houston’s Montrose neighborhood whose proceeds benefit a variety of community service organizations serving the elderly in need.

Go to project website

The Guild Shop had been approached by two neighboring businesses about the use of their parking lot after business hours. Kensinger Donnelly assisted with the negotiation of the lease agreements for the communal use of the parking. The resulting agreement allowed The Guild Shop to increase its community grants and assist with the viability of its neighborhood businesses.

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Brightening retail shopfronts, security, and bottom lines.

Eldridge Plaza

Houston, Texas

Eldridge Plaza

Eldridge Plaza is a 40,000 SF neighborhood retail center that was acquired in 1988. It is located in Northwest Houston, southwest of the 290/Beltway 8 interchange.

In 2017, nearing full occupancy and an upward trend in retail leasing, Kensinger Donnelly identified an opportunity to formulate a cost-effective plan that would address some deferred maintenance while promoting an upgraded environment for tenants and customers.

A vibrant paint scheme has helped break up an otherwise monotonous storefront and create colorful individual lease spaces. New architectural LED lighting has offered an added sense of security for our tenants and customers in the evening hours, while decreasing common utility expenses. A drought-tolerant landscape plan that requires little maintenance has upgraded the appearance of the shopping center while keeping operating expenses low.

The Eldridge Plaza improvement project illustrates Kensinger Donnelly’s creative and resourceful approach to asset management that is mindful of both the bottom line and the everyday experience of our tenants and customers.

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Freeing peace-minded partners to focus on mission.

Jerusalem Peacebuilders

Houston, Texas

Jerusalem Peacebuilders

Jerusalem Peacebuilders, Inc. (JPB) is an interfaith, nonprofit organization with a mission to create a better future for humanity across religions, cultures, and nationalities.

JPB runs transformational person-to-person encounters for high school students and adults in the US, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. These programs consist of summer peace programs in the US, in-school programming in Israel, the West Bank and the US, and educational travel experiences in the US and the Holy Land.

Kensinger Donnelly empowers JPB to deploy their human and financial resources exclusively into programming by providing comprehensive administrative support to JPB. This support includes bookkeeping, financial and tax reporting, insurance and risk management, legal coordination, documentation, compliance, record keeping, donor relations and communications services.

We believe this is a compelling model for community service. More than providing a high level of professional service typically beyond the reach of small nonprofits, this kind of partnership engages our entire team in a meaningful service enterprise.

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Offering good spaces to good businesses.

Nonprofits and Community Organizations

Houston, Texas

Nonprofit and Community Organizations

In keeping with our dedication to serve our community, we provide subsidized, affordable space to a wide variety of nonprofits and community-based organizations including LiftFund, Select Center, PAIR, Young Life Houston Central, Soundbox Studios, Houston Bike Share, The TEAM Approach, and the Houston Police Department.

Our passion as a firm is to collectively energize and enrich areas throughout Houston with people-driven service and principle-driven collaboration. We offer fair and responsible leases for fair and responsible use in communities that need the ingenuity that effective ethical organizations can provide.

We believe that a good cause can be good business. Not only do these businesses add value to the lives of the people their work touches, they also add value to the surrounding properties. Together, we realize the true profit in doing the right thing: strengthening our ties as business partners and community members alike.

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Revitalizing a community corridor.

ULI-TIRZ 1

Houston, Texas

ULI-TIRZ 1

In 2015, Kensinger Donnelly led an effort to organize stakeholders within a once vibrant, but since blighted, area in Houston commonly known as the Richmond Corridor.

PDF: ULI TAP Re-Imagining the Richmond Corridor: A road map and tool kit to transform the Richmond Corridor area

Download PDF

Along with fellow stakeholders, City of Houston, HISD, and METRO, Kensinger Donnelly brought the community together and lead a Technical Assistance Program (TAP) through the Urban Land Institute (ULI). That TAP experienced a record attendance by community stakeholders. The result was a plan for the revitalization of the Richmond Corridor and the organization of area stakeholders’ public voice. A year later, Kensinger Donnelly effectively used the ULI TAP and worked with the City to expand Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone #1 (TIRZ 1) to include the Richmond Corridor.

In an area that had not seen meaningful public infrastructure investment in decades, the TIRZ 1 expansion has created a new funding source for economic development, flood mitigation, transportation, and beautification projects within that public realm.

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Catapulting artistic advocacy through operational muscle.

Project Row Houses

Third Ward, Houston, Texas

Project Row Houses

In 1993, a group of African American artists living in Houston’s Third Ward neighborhood had a vision to transform a block and a half of neglected shotgun houses into an art space impacting the social environment. Through their creativity, engagement, and advocacy, these artists founded Project Row Houses (PRH), a now internationally recognized nonprofit organization serving artists, young mothers, small businesses, and the residents of the Third Ward community.

Go to project website

As PRH flourished, so did its campus. Over time, PRH acquired more shotgun houses and other properties of historic significance, with the goal of delivering more services to its community and preserving the history and culture tied to these structures. Facilities operations became a larger component of PRH’s day-to-day work.

In 2011, Kensinger Donnelly began working with PRH to support its mission by providing administrative and property management consulting. For two years, we worked daily with the Staff and Board of PRH to organize its business and facilities operations. In this partnership, PRH could focus on its world-class programming, while we provided state-of-the-art real estate management and operational solutions.

Our partnership with PRH was so fruitful that it now serves as the model for our future collaborations with nonprofits.

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