Giving that dose of pragmatism to often idealistic students is a critical mission of the program. Many of this year’s participants were quick to declare towering ambitions to create housing, retail and other commercial properties in struggling neighborhoods. The USC training has been sobering, said Compton-born Robert Zomalt.

“We all had to take a deep breath and realize how much we have to deal with,” said Zomalt, who hopes to build housing in Oxnard with Casillas. “You have to make sure your data supports your passion.”

The 28 Latino, African American and Asian students who just completed this year’s intensive two-week session arrive on the development scene at a time when the real estate industry’s interest in the central city is growing. High-profile successes such as Magic Johnson Theatres in Baldwin Hills have encouraged historically skittish lenders to fund projects in neighborhoods they might have balked at a few years ago.

Graduates have built a high school in Watts, affordable housing in East Los Angeles and a shopping center in the Crenshaw district. Many of the projects are built by nonprofit organizations, but some are constructed to rent or sell at market rates. Idealism and capitalism occasionally clash in class.

“For-profit [developers] learn to be a little more thoughtful, nonprofits to be a bit more cut-and-dried,” Zomalt said. “You have to think like a for-profit to get funded.”

It’s what you do with the money you make that matters, said Maria Villagrana, a student who manages property for the Pasadena-based Southland Cos. and raises her children on her native Eastside.

“I see dollar signs, but I would invest it right back in my community,” she said.

There aren’t enough retail options there now, Villagrana said. “I make so much money that I have to go to Pasadena, Santa Monica or Long Beach to spend it.”

A former professional heavyweight boxer from Miami uses less romantic terms. “I want to be a tycoon,” said Buster Mathis Jr., who won 20 bouts before being knocked out by Mike Tyson in 1995 and still speaks with combative flair. “By going through this program you know better. You know how to protect yourself.”   Continue »

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