Alumnus Dale White Honored for Transformative Affordable Housing Project

White is the managing director of acquisitions at BDP Impact Real Estate, the fund manager for the CS Large Cities Housing Fund, the innovative fund responsible for the acquisition of the Market Street Village project. He played a central role in bringing the project to life. “I led this deal from start to finish,” he shared. “It really feels great for our fund to receive this kind of recognition. It’s a humbling experience.

White entered the UB School of Architecture and Planning intending to study architecture but quickly fell in love with urban planning and particularly real estate development. “Alan Dewart introduced me to the business side of real estate, and I will forever be grateful for his instruction and class structure,” he recalled. “He taught an undergraduate real estate course that I loved so much I took it twice.”

Through that class, White got to tour some of downtown Buffalo’s first residential projects, including the Lofts at Elk Terminal developed by First Amherst Development. He was so inspired by Bernard and Ben Obletz’s vision for the project that he even met with them to ask for an internship. “As great as the conversation went, I didn’t walk away with an internship that day, but the advice I was given was priceless and gave me the confidence to follow my dreams.”

Once White confirmed his passion for real estate, Al Price’s graduate-level real estate class provided an even deeper foundation through its rigorous curriculum and gave him the confidence to pursue the industry with hunger and purpose. “I was especially grateful to be allowed into the course as an undergraduate, even though it was designed for master’s students, because I had finally found something I truly loved studying,” White reflected. “I will forever be indebted to Alan, Bernard, Ben, and Al. If not for UB, I would have never had the opportunity to meet them, and those encounters changed the trajectory of my life.”

At the time, UB didn’t offer a master’s program in real estate development, so White pursued his MSRED at NYU after completing his undergraduate degree and eventually earned an MBA in Finance and Strategy. This background came in handy several years later when UB asked if he would be interested in helping to shape an MSRED program at his alma mater.

“I was really excited about it because this is exactly what Buffalo needed,” White recalled. “I joined the real estate advisory panel and helped shape the program that I wish had existed when I was there.” Today, he also serves as a member of the Dean's Council, helping to raise the School’s global profile and advance its academic programs and research enterprise.

Over the past 15 years, White has built a distinguished career in equitable community development, working with organizations like Full Spectrum of New York, Jonathan Rose Companies, The Brownsville Partnership, and Community Solutions. Over that time, he amassed considerable experience in the fundamental aspects of affordable housing projects, including how to structure, finance, review, and assess deals, as well as Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and New Markets Tax Credits.

Through this experience, he learned firsthand just how long it takes to build new affordable housing units using traditional processes–and how expensive it is. At Market Street Village, BDP Impact Real Estate took a more novel approach in their role as fund manager for Community Solutions, their national not-for-profit partner that works to create a lasting end to homelessness.

Rather than building new units, they converted a Class A market-rate property into affordable housing–where half of the units are made available for veterans exiting homelessness and half for individuals earning up to 80% of the area median income (AMI). This strategy offered three key advantages over other methods: cost savings, faster implementation, and reduced displacement.

“It’s about $1 million a unit to do a LIHTC development in some cities in California, and it can take up to 5-7 years to house people, depending on how complex the deal is–that’s from inception to lease,” White explained. “But converting a market-rate property, we can find a deal in a month, underwrite it in a week, put in an offer, do our due diligence in 45 days, and close 30 days after that. It’s 3-4 months total.”

Importantly, no tenants have been displaced; as units become vacant, they’re offered to qualified applicants. “Out of our 1,400 units, we’ve been able to house more than 600 people in two years that were experiencing or exiting homelessness,” White noted. “With this, there’s no displacement. If you want to stay in your unit, you’re more than welcome to stay. We house people on natural unit turns. The building is going to turn over anywhere from 20-40% every year. So, that allows us to house people with those available units.”

Market Street Village stands out not only for providing affordable housing but for offering a truly elevated living experience. The property is well maintained and boasts amenities such as on-site support services, a fitness center, and a rooftop deck. Its location offers easy access to public transportation, employment centers, medical facilities, and grocery stores—making it both convenient and community-oriented. White brings a personal standard to every acquisition: “We’re not buying a building I wouldn’t feel comfortable living in.”

Now back in Buffalo after many years in New York City, White teaches an Affordable Housing in Practice seminar for UB urban planning students. Using his own career as a guide, he molded the curriculum based on his own experiences and the lessons he learned along the way, including class discussions on structuring deals, fund models, property tax exemption strategies, and community preservation, in addition to traditional approaches like LIHTC. White even called upon some of the stars of his Rolodex to speak to the class, including Sabrina Barker (Jonathan Rose Companies); David Foster (BDP Impact Real Estate); Sharmi Sobhan (Chase, Community Development Banking) and Mark Migliacci (National Equity Fund).

The class launched shortly after the Market Street Village project began, giving White’s students a rare opportunity to follow a deal in real time. White explained, “It provided a real-world application on a freshly closed deal to students as almost a live case study and to illustrate the impact of the investment model and how to preserve affordability without LIHTC.”

White was especially encouraged when most of his students chose to do an acquisition instead of a LIHTC deal for their final group project. “That was my favorite part of the class,” he reflected with a smile. “Learning that you can take something that happened so many miles away on a different coast and you can apply it to Buffalo, and it’s replicable in every city. The students got excited about it, and their excitement got me excited.”

Now that he’s back in his hometown, White seems eager to continue sharing his expertise with the next generation of planners. He’s also enjoying giving back to the School that laid the groundwork for his success. “It’s all because of UB’s School of Architecture and Planning,” he acknowledged. “Without that, I wouldn’t be here.”