Richard Copeland had big dreams for the RAC. New owners aim to make his dream real

The RAC’s new owners, the Rev. Alfred Babington-Johnson, left, and David McGee, pose by a picture of their friend, Richard Copeland. Photo by David Pierini

By David Pierini, Editor

Richard Copeland built a “beacon of hope” on a North Minneapolis block that burned with civil unrest during the summer of 1967.

Just a kid then, Copeland went on to build a successful multi-million dollar construction company and a gleaming headquarters at the intersection of Penn and Plymouth avenues. He hoped the aptly named Regional Acceleration Center (RAC) would attract much-needed investment to the area.

But Copeland lost his company to financial hardship in 2019 and the building that had opened with much fanfare the year before. The RAC was headed toward receivership and, possibly, in the hands of an outside buyer.

That didn’t happen and in mid-December of 2021, the keys to the building were handed over to the directors of two Northside non-profit organizations determined to bring Copeland’s dream to fruition.

Build Wealth MN’s David McGee and the Rev. Alfred Babington-Johnson of the StairStep Foundation put nearly $1 million dollars down on a building that will cost more than $10 million to acquire. LISC Twin Cities, a nonprofit financier, put together the sales agreement, which included the original lenders, US Bank and Old National Bank.

Some $10 million in new market tax credits provide most of the funding.

The new owners both occupy space in the RAC.

“He feels this continues the narrative that continues as he intended,” Babington- Johnson said of Copeland. “This great story (of Copeland bringing his headquarters to the area in which he grew up) now was in a confused place and an unlikely ending.”

“So when David and I were able to collaborate to reclaim this, it was to continue the song of the advance of our community. Here’s a stake in the ground that Black folk can be proud of.”

Copeland ran into some financial setbacks, including costly lawsuits that ultimately forced him to close. Almost immediately, Babington-Johnson entered discussions with some potential partners about acquiring the building. Those discussions went nowhere and the building was advertised for sale.

Babington-Johnson was lamenting

what seemed like a lost opportunity when McGee came to his house on an unrelated matter. They started talking about what was missing to make the deal attractive. McGee, with a deep background in banking, real estate and finance, said, “I can do that.”

They said a prayer and went to work.

“The first thing we did was pray,” McGee said. “That was the first thing we needed to do if this was going to be successful. I knew I had the technical skills to get this done; if you put me in the right place, I could shape a viable deal and salvage this.”

McGee guided a process that satisfied original investors and lien holders and “made everyone whole.”

“The turn of events was remarkable,” Copeland said. “We couldn’t meet the financial obligation on that building. It could’ve been cut up, diced and sliced in so many different ways. It could’ve been an albatross around the neck of the community. I had given up hope.”

“But after a fumble, there was a successful recovery.”

Copeland never thought he would live to see the outcome engineered by his two friends. A year ago, he says he was diagnosed with aggressive cancer and given a prognosis that he wouldn’t live to see the new year.

But Copeland’s condition qualified for a new treatment that has since extended his life. Babington-Johnson launched a fundraising drive to help pay for the treatment.

“Those treatments extended my life and gave me a chance to see something positive. I think the world of Babington and David.”

Doing the work to accelerate a region

RAC shares an intersection with the expanding NorthPoint Health and Wellness campus, Estes Funeral Home and the Urban League Minneapolis, one of Copeland’s first big construction projects.

The Regional Acceleration Center. Photo by David Pierini

Copeland’s former building now has tenants doing the kind of work that fulfills his mission of RAC being that beacon of hope.

McGee started Build Wealth MN in 2004 as a financial literacy resource, educating clients about credit and home buying and, promoting sustainable economic wealth creation to underserved communities. Since its inception, Build Wealth has helped thousands of people access resources that have allowed them to climb out of debt. More than a third of their clients end up buying their first homes.

The faith-based StairStep Foundation was founded in 1992 to engage in a wide range of challenges among African Americans. It has programs to engage disaffected youth, provide GED and other diploma opportunities, help the unemployed secure jobs and increase access to grief, trauma and mental health services.

On the top floor is Summit Academy OIC, which offers tuition-free programs in

construction, information technology and Medical Administrative Assistant jobs. There is also tutoring for people to get a GED.

“When this building was being built, a colleague of mine who lives close said he could hear the pile drivers and was like, ‘What’s that noise?’ Then he remembered, ‘Oh, that our advance was being built on that corner,’” Babington-Johnson recalled. “So now the noise of the pile drivers, instead of being a nuisance, we're now a melody to a good song.”