R. Richard Walker holds a B.S. (1969) Degree in Education from Wayne State University and brings more than 35 years of real estate experience to every project. In September 1972, Mr. Walker formed R. Richard Walker, Inc., a Michigan Corporation, with its principal activity as an investment properties brokerage business. Over the next three years, Mr. Walker completed the acquisition and sale of more than ten major investment properties valued at over $30 million dollars for various syndicates.
Rick Walker and Mr. Bill Weatherford, an established commercial contractor, formed Weatherford/Walker Developments in 1975 for the purpose of developing shopping center space. Weatherford/Walker completed over 5.5 million square feet of power center retail space valued in excess of $600 million.
Miroslav (“Mirko”) Vlcko is a practicing attorney and shareholder at Strobl & Sharp, P.C. and specializes in real estate and banking. Mr. Vlcko was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia on June 27, 1944 and was admitted to the State Bar of Michigan in 1971. He holds his B.S., (1968) and his J.D., cum laude, (1971) from Wayne State University.
Fluent in both Czech and Slovak languages, Mirko is a member of the Oakland County and American Bar Associations (Member, Section on Corporation, Banking and Business Law); and the State Bar of Michigan (Member: Real Estate Section; Corporation Law Section). A past member of the Order of Barristers and National Moot Court Team, Mirko has also served as Adjunct Associate Professor of Law, Legal Research and Writing at Wayne State University Law School from 1971-1973.
Lawrence C. Cager, Jr. is the founder and a managing principal of Creative Capital, LLC with over 22 years of real estate development and lending experience. Prior to forming Creative Capital, LLC, Lawrence served as a Deputy Director of the District of Columbia Department of Housing and Community Development, Director of the Development Finance Division. While serving as the Director of the Development Financing Division, Lawrence was responsible for providing over $200 million of public financing for affordable housing and community development within the District of Columbia. Lawrence’s career includes experience with many of Baltimore’s redevelopment efforts, including Harborplace and the Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition.
Rick Walker
Mirko Vlcko
Lawrence C. Cager Jr.
In 1992, Rick joined with Messrs. Jeffrey and Sam Sobel in a joint venture for the development of commercial projects. That entity completed almost 2 million square feet of retail space valued in excess of $25 million, including a joint venture with the Hartford Baptist Church to construct the first urban K-Mart store in Detroit, Michigan for which Mr. Walker acted as the principal developer and liaison with the city and K-Mart.
Beginning in 1997, Rick’s passion and focus was bringing retail opportunities to underserved inner city residents of major U.S. cities. A joint venture with K-mart Corporation to develop city stores led to the completion of 3 developments. Rick’s success in the K-Mart venture led him to conclude he would continue without the involvement of K-Mart, and his recent projects have focused on neighborhood-located major shopping centers in urban cores.
Childhood friends, Rick Walker and Mirko Vlcko purchased the Rhode Island Place Shopping Center property from Kmart following Kmart’s bankruptcy declaration and completed the development of a $20,500,000 retail facility. The project was completed in less than 12 months and opened fully leased. Of note, the developers were able to achieve 44% Local Small Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (LSDBE) participation.
Lawrence has served as the Baltimore Program Director of The Enterprise Foundation, Interim President of the Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition and Assistant Construction Manager for the Rouse Company. He currently sits on several local boards, is a 1998 alumni of Baltimore Leadership, and has a B.S. from Towson University and a M.S. from Carnegie-Mellon University. Maintaining a close working relationship with business leaders, lenders, community leaders and developers, Lawrence specializes in creating successful real estate development for clients.
Together, Rick and Mirko continued their venture and assisted Israel Baptist Church with the development of a 49 unit senior housing project on land adjacent to the retail development.
In 2006, Rick and Mirko began collaborating with Mr. Lawrence Cager on the senior housing project, and their work together bringing quality mixed-use development to urban communities led to efforts in Baltimore City.
Rick and Mirko
This team’s depth and diversity of experience in the assembly, financing, development and leasing of real estate projects is one reason national retailers often ask the team to pursue certain projects. Retailer-driven development (i.e. projects requested by the retailer or retailers) facilitates the design and financing as well as the leasing of a project and can reduce the time a piece of land sits vacant. Swift private investment and job creation signals to other private investors, whether commercial real estate investors or home buyers, the health and viability of adjacent communities.
Presently, WV Urban is completing development approvals on two significant urban in-fill projects in Baltimore, MD and Washington, DC. Several additional projects, including sites in Baltimore, MD and Newark, NJ, are in the pipeline and active planning phases. Combined, these projects offer opportunities for 2 million square feet of national retail tenancies.
