Desiree Faulkner – A Caribbean American Real Estate Developer With A Cause

A real estate developer, realtor, and architect, Desiree Faulkner has a passion for building and creating communities. It’s not just about the structures, it’s about working with underserved communities to create pride, safety, and stability.

PHOTO: Born and raised in St. Lucia, Desiree Faulkner always had an interest in architecture, starting in secondary school. (Contributed image)So, establishing her own firm, the Miami-based Faulkner Partners, meant she would have complete control over the projects she felt would do the best.

“I really wanted to do projects that were meaningful, that would uplift communities and projects that would make statements and really change the narrative for young women,” Faulker told Caribbean Today recently. “Projects that would speak to my whole life, that would speak to education, the youth, housing, the churches, arts and recreation, I want to create.”

Building With A Purpose

Born and raised in St. Lucia, Faulkner always had an interest in architecture, starting in secondary school. At the tender age of 18, she began her formal architectural education, and upon graduation, worked with an architectural firm in New York, where she learnt the ropes as a construction manager before eventually making her mark in the field. Today, almost 30 years later, the developer is indeed building with a purpose.

One of those projects, was her work on Liberty Square several years ago, which she referred to as her “baptism of fire.” A public housing apartment complex in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood dealing with issues of crime and poverty, is still being re-developed with the goal of creating a mixed-use, mixed-income community that will generate economic opportunities for its residents.

Asked about some of her most ambitious projects, Faulkner spoke about her involvement in the reshaping of downtown Doral, in the city of Doral, Florida, that saw the successful creation of a mixed-use community bringing together single-family homes, condo units, retail spaces, restaurants and schools. But her eyes truly sparkled when she spoke about her current undertaking.

“It’s called the northwest 54th street revival project, in Liberty City,” explained Faulkner. “We are taking elements that we learned from Doral and bringing (it) here - the housing, the educational facilities, the retail spaces, community health facilities.”

When Faulkner worked on Liberty Square, her eyes were opened to the needs of the wider community. She saw their struggles and the deteriorating environment that many lived in. She determined to address the housing shortage and create economic opportunities and the northwest 54th street revival project was born through her desire to uplift the community.

“It speaks to my values. It speaks to how I was raised, about community,” she revealed. “If you create a winning environment, the people in that environment will succeed. So, I am bringing the winning environment to Liberty City. We want to surround people, the children, with things foundational. Coming from the islands, we know those foundational core values.”

Daughter Of The Caribbean

As a daughter of the Caribbean, Faulkner attributes her compassion, her values to her Caribbean-ness. she noted that when she migrated to New York, it was the morals and values her mother instilled in her and her foundational teachings from the church and the all-girls Catholic school she attended as a child, that gave her the sure-footedness she needed to thrive in that new environment.

“It was my Caribbean-ness that established me. My uniqueness, my ability to see things differently and wanting to succeed opened a lot of doors for me,” she said with pride. “We have different things about us, and we have the drive.”

Indeed, the developer sees issues and solutions from a different angle, noting that the deep-rooted issues that affect underserved communities are policies.

Nobody has taken the time to change policies that improve infrastructure, zoning policies for example,” she said. So, we need to literally address policy from a government standpoint to upskill the people in the community, to elevate their housing needs, to help elevate the infrastructure.

Faulkner added that educating the community about the benefits of development is also essential, as some may fear displacement by gentrification.

“Yes, you can go, and you can change the park, you can change the square, but there's more deep-rooted issues you need to change, for instance infrastructure,” explained the developer. “You need to have better roads. You need to bring in a Wi-Fi services. If you don't have banking systems in your community, how can you attract businesses? So, we have meaningful conversations to show that we can help the community.”

Asked about how the Trump administration’s tough tariff policies may affect her ability to invest in improving communities, Faulkner posed a few questions herself. “With the cost of construction materials going up how do you create a project that's sustainable and viable?” she asked. “How do you negotiate with your suppliers? You know these changes are coming, so it's going to be a process of wait and see how those chips fall, but hopefully there will be a silver lining.”

As the real estate developer navigates her world of building and changing lives, she is keen to leave her building footprint much further afield.

“We want to take that footprint we're creating in Liberty City and bring it to other underserved areas in the United States, bringing those same ingredients - the housing, schools, medical facilities, parks, youth centers,” she said. “Because everywhere you go, there's always a community that's underserved. ultimately, we want to take that same blueprint to other parts of the globe.”