About

Elinor Bacon has more than 40 years experience in housing, real estate development and community revitalization in both the public and private sectors.

E.R. Bacon Development, LLC
Bacon established DC-based E.R. Bacon Development in 2002. The firm’s focus is on urban infill; mixed-use, mixed-income community development; affordable housing; and adaptive reuse of buildings and their surrounding land.
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Our Mission

The mission of E.R. Bacon Development is to revitalize communities and develop real estate projects that:

  • cherish history
  • honor neighborhoods
  • engage communities
  • animate and enliven
  • welcome the richness of partnerships
  • embrace diversity
  • construct green/operate green/live green
  • create beauty
  • build on community assets
  • value culture
  • assume permanence and a place in history
  • develop both human capital and physical assets

2002 - Today

A New Waterfront
In The Wharf, Bacon sees the realization of a vision of a redeveloped DC Southwest Waterfront that she had in 1980, and the culmination of her life’s work.  At that time Bacon worked at The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, at 7th and D Streets SW, as an entry level civil servant. With her colleagues, she went to restaurants at the Southwest Waterfront for special celebrations.  Bacon was puzzled by how undeveloped the waterfront was, and amazed by the huge potential that it offered. Now, with the completion of The Wharf in October 2022, Hoffman Madison Waterfront, led by Monty Hoffman, Chair of Hoffman & Associates, has created a world class waterfront community beyond conceivable expectations -- The Wharf incorporates all the fundamental principles that have driven Bacon's work throughout her career.  She is honored and privileged to be a partner in this extraordinary development.
District Wharf
A nearly mile long transformation of Washington, DC's waterfront facing the Washington Channel.
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2001

National Capital Revitalization Corporation (NCRC)
In 2001, as the first President and CEO, Elinor Bacon launched the National Capital Revitalization Corporation (NCRC), a quasi-public real estate development corporation established by the Washington DC Council, with Federal support and the mission to spur economic development throughout the District, primarily in neighborhoods of need. Today this effort lives on at AnacostiaWaterfront.org
Southwest Waterfront Redevelopment Plan
During her tenure, NCRC contributed funding to the DC Office of Planning to prepare the SW Redevelopment Plan, as part of the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative created by DC Mayor Anthony  Williams, with Andrew Altman, Director of the DC Office of Planning.
Redevelopment Land
Agency
Also during her tenure NCRC assumed control of the RLA land assets remaining from Urban Renewal, including the Southwest Waterfront. NCRC then managed the RLA land redevelopment process, from developer selection to completion.

1997 - 2000

US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
During the second term of the Clinton Administration, Bacon served, under HUD Secretary, Andrew Cuomo, as Deputy Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Public Housing Investments, to administer HOPE VI and Public Housing Capital Programs
Hope VI Program
The HOPE VI Program of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, 1992-2010, was created to transform severely distressed public housing and the lives of residents. HUD also operates Public Housing Capital Programs with annual appropriations of approximately $2.5 bil during that timeframe
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1985 - 1997

Bacon & Company
Before joining HUD, Bacon had a private real estate development and consulting firm for 12 years in Baltimore, MD, Bacon & Company. Earlier, she worked in the public sector in housing and community development, on the City and Federal levels of government, and for The Johns Hopkins Hospital as Community Development Director.
School House Mews
Renovation/adaptive reuse of 100 year-old elementary school into ten 1,080 square foot 2 story townhouse condominium units with 2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and full basement
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Bell Tower Commons
Renovation/adaptive reuse of 100 year old church into nine 1,200 square foot townhouse condominium units with 2 bedrooms, 2 baths and basement or attic
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1970 - 1985

Public/Non-Profit Sector
Bacon volunteered as a scheduler for Parren J. Mitchell, a Morgan State University Professor, in his 1970 congressional campaign when he was elected as the first African American Congressman from Maryland. She then served as Mitchell’s Legislative Assistant for Maryland’s 7th Congressional District, subsequently represented by the Honorable Elijah Cummings and Kweisi Enfume. In 1976 she was hired by the Baltimore Housing Department as a Rehabilitation Estimator and ultimately served as Rehabilitation Director. She then worked in HUD's national office in DC and, from 1982-85, served as Community Development Director for The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Education
Bacon has a Master of Arts Degree in Chinese Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from The New School for Social Research, New York City.
Associations
She has been a member of The Urban Land Institute, The Congress for the New Urbanism and the District of Columbia Building Industry Association, and served on the Advisory Board of the Colvin Institute, University of Maryland Graduate Real Estate Program, Habitat for Humanity of Washington, DC, and the Montpelier VT Economic Development Corporation.
Bacon co-chaired a Task Force for the Reauthorization of HOPE VI, established at the request of former Senator Barbara Mikulski, MD, and served on the DC Historic Preservation Review Board, the Development Industry Advisory Council to the DC Department of Small and Local Business Development and the DC Mayor/Council Workforce Intermediary Task Force.

Awards

  • 2022 Fellow, Congress for The New Urbanism.
  • 2017 Glenn Brown Award, DC AIA, and the Washington Architecture Foundation.
  • 2017 Innovation & Entrepreneurship Real Estate Award, University of Maryland.
  • 2004 Seaside Prize to Elinor Bacon for her work in HOPE VI.
  • 2001 Council of Large Public Housing Authorities recognition of Elinor Bacon, “for elevating the HOPE VI Program to national prominence with zeal, fierce determination and panache.”
  • 1997 Maryland's Top 100 Women.
  • 1992 Baltimore Heritage Historic Preservation Award to the Greyhound Bus Terminal, “in recognition of excellence in the adaptive use of an historically significant Art Moderne bus station into the headquarters of the Baltimore Regional Council of Governments.”
  • 1995 Baltimore Heritage Historic Preservation Award, "in recognition of excellence in the rehabilitation of Washington Square.”
  • 1992 Award for Excellence, Maryland State Planning Commission, to Falls North Partnership, for Falls North, “a project which display outstanding and exemplary sensitivity to the physical design process.”

E.R. Bacon Development is real estate development and consulting firm , whose principal, Elinor Bacon, has more than 40 years' experience in creating great urban places.

Featured Projects
Hope VI Program
733 Tenth Street
District Wharf
Bell Tower Commons
Associations
Congress for the New UrbanismUrban Land InstituteDistrict of Columbia Building Industry AssociationConstruction Pathways Employer Advisory Council, University of the District of Columbia
Hospitality and Tourism Employer Advisory Council, University of the District of Columbia

Potomac River Keeper Leadership Council

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