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Harriet B. Saperstein

Affiliation

Chairperson - Woodward Avenue Action Association

Biography

After 17 years at the helm of HP Devco, Inc. a non-profit economic development agency serving Highland Park, Michigan, and a 20-year career in university teaching and as a planner and riverfront recreational coordinator for the City of Detroit, Harriet B. Saperstein retired as President of HP Devco in March 2007 to provide time for consulting and return to teaching at the University level. She is presently an Adjunct Instructor at the University Detroit Mercy in the School of Architecture Community Devlopment Program.

While at HP Devco, Mrs. Saperstein coordinated a successful public/private partnership resulting in the development of the Highland Park Town Center, a 25-year dream of community residents. The national award-winning mixed-use project has already generated $60 million of successful retail and residential developments in Highland Park and is a model for similar projects elsewhere in the Detroit metropolitan region. The Town Center includes 30 stores and 200 units of affordable and market-rate rental housing. Additional mixed-use development is scheduled for construction on the former Sears site in 2007-08.

Ms. Saperstein also helped facilitate more than $300 million of additional projects in Highland Park, including a Revolving Loan Fund for small businesses, marketing and technical support for Oakland Park, a major industrial development on the former Chrysler site, and a variety of private sector retail and commercial developments along Woodward Avenue. She coordinated several major planning efforts including the “Blueprints for Michigan’s Downtowns” to help bring resources to Woodward Avenue and to the neighborhoods of Highland Park.

Ms. Saperstein’s volunteer activities are concentrated in the area of community and neighborhood revitalization. She is presently Chairperson of the Woodward Avenue Action Association (providing technical support and funding for events and development along the Oakland and Wayne County 27-mile National Byway); Board Member and Past President of the Michigan Interfaith Trust Fund (a state-wide organization for affordable housing and business development); and has served as a Board Member of the Wayne County Metropolitan Growth and Development Corporation (providing small business loans in Wayne and Macomb County), and the Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency (providing social services as well as community development services). In addition, she participates on the Boards or Advisory Boards of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, Friends of the Belle Isle Aquarium, Friends of the Detroit River, and the Sojourner Foundation for Women and Girls.

Ms. Saperstein has been an invited speaker on public/private partnerships and developing inner-city retail and mixed-use projects for a variety of national venues, including the International Council of Shopping Centers and the “Counselors of Real Estate” Forum. She has also been a guest researcher at a the Centre for Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Birmingham and the Polytechnic of North London, while doing research on waterfronts and urban recreation in London, Stockholm, and other European communities. She is a resource for journalists concerned with community and economic development and has published research articles on small businesses in Detroit and on Leisure Centers in England.

Mrs. Saperstein studied at McGill University and the University of Michigan, (where she received a B.A. in Sociology), at Brown University (where she received an M.A. in sociology) and completed all course work for a Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Buffalo (now the State University of NY at Buffalo).

Ms. Saperstein has won a number of awards, including the 1995 Real Estate Mogul of the Year from Commercial, Inc. Magazine/University of Michigan Real Estate Forum; the 2000 Community Builder of the Year from the Economic Justice Commission/McGehee Fund/Shiffman Foundation; the 2001 Executive Woman of the Year from Grant Thornton/Butzel Long/Crain’s Business News; the 2003 Economic Developer of the Year from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation; and most recently, the 2004 Community Peacemaker Award from Wayne State University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies for her work in community development in the metropolitan area.