As Atlanta speeds through one of the largest redevelopment cycles in its history, few figures can claim to have shaped more directly the way that growth translates into public value than Lisa Benjamin can. Now a partner at Lexicon Strategies, Benjamin (née Lisa Gordon) has spent more than two decades operating at the intersection of land use policy, infrastructure delivery, affordable housing, and large-scale redevelopment—helping to align public objectives with private investment citywide.
Her leadership has influenced some of Atlanta’s most consequential initiatives. As former vice president and chief operating officer of the Atlanta Beltline, former president and chief executive officer of Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, and former chief operating officer for the city of Atlanta, Benjamin has worked across public, nonprofit, and private sectors to navigate how development serves communities, and hw it serves capital.
That experience looms large as Atlanta continues to attract new residents and investment at an unprecedented pace. Throughout the metropolitan region, formerly industrial corridors are being reshaped into mixed-use districts with housing, retail, and trail networks. In downtown Atlanta alone, more than $8 billion in public and private investment is planned—intensifying long-standing questions about who benefits from growth and how public priorities are reflected in the built environment.
“The built environment is a people conversation—people want to live, work, and thrive,” Benjamin says. “There are many things that separate us from each other, but we all have those shared goals in common.”
Atlanta Beltline
Benjamin is well known for her work on the Atlanta Beltline (2010–2015), a project that repurposes 22 miles of underused rail infrastructure into a citywide network of trails, parks, transit, affordable housing, and economic development. When complete, the Beltline will connect 45 neighborhoods, many of which have long experienced physical and economic disconnection.
Under Benjamin’s leadership, the Beltline advanced major capital investments in trail and park construction while catalyzing significant private development. As of 2023, the project has attracted more than $9 billion in private investment along the corridor. Beyond its economic impact, the Beltline has become a defining public space in Atlanta and reshaped how residents move through the city and experience it.
Benjamin described the project as formative to her comprehension of equitable development. “Understanding how we invest in communities—and how they grow in response—has shaped how I think about good development. I’ve been very lucky to work on many projects where we are tackling the issue of what makes communities better.”
Atlanta Habitat for Humanity
At the heart of Benjamin’s work is her conviction that equitable and affordable housing is the starting point for community health and stability. After her time with the Atlanta Beltline, Benjamin served as the president and CEO of Atlanta Habitat for Humanity (2015–2022), where she led efforts to expand the organization’s reach and build affordable housing in the city. Benjamin facilitated partnerships with public, nonprofit, and private actors to secure financing for housing that was not just affordable but also livable.
“The key is making sure that affordable housing for lower-income families is just as high quality as housing for higher-income ones,” Benjamin says.
One example of this principle put into action is Browns Mill Village—a more than 30 acre (12 ha) mixed-income homeownership community in Atlanta’s Southside. Atlanta Habitat collaborated with such organizations as Cityscape Housing to deliver more than 130 housing units, 75 of which will be affordable.
Browns Mill Village helps tackle Atlanta’s housing affordability crisis and serves as a community that provides equitable benefits for a wide range of people. With its community green space and proximity to schools and businesses near Atlanta’s downtown, the development embodies Benjamin’s philosophy.
“Each person wants to live in a great place. A place where their kids go to good schools, where they have places to shop, and where they have amenities and gathering spaces—no matter who you ask, people want the same things,” Benjamin says.
Past development patterns have restricted these opportunities for many—especially those who have lower incomes or disadvantaged backgrounds. Projects like Browns Mill Village help rectify this issue through high-quality, equitable, and attainable development.
City of Atlanta
After Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, Benjamin served as the chief operating officer for the city of Atlanta from 2022 to 2024. Benjamin worked on Atlanta’s Affordable Housing Strike Force, a body that used cross-sector alignment to accelerate equitable housing production. The strike force had a goal to build or preserve 20,000 affordable housing units, but beyond that, it aimed to change the way the city uses its balance sheet and public land to unlock housing opportunities. Benjamin helped the Strike Force develop and maintain partnerships with key city departments to move the work forward. By coordinating action between public sector officials focused on planning, transportation, parks, education, and housing, Benjamin helped the city advance affordable housing with the services people need. That kind of coordination, Benjamin argues, is essential to reversing decades of disinvestment.
“Engagement is not a single meeting or a box to check—it’s an ongoing practice,” Benjamin says. She believes that engaging residents in the development process creates more buy-in and good community outcomes. “The real work is how developers and public partners listen to what communities want,” she says.
Focus on equity
When reflecting on ULI’s 10 Principles for Embedding Racial Equity in Real Estate report, Benjamin highlights the importance of development professionals’ building trust, transparency, and credibility with community members. Benjamin maintains that this trust must be earned long before ribbon cuttings, and it is especially critical when working in historically marginalized neighborhoods.
“In certain communities, residents don’t have the resources to hold people accountable for outcomes that were promised but not delivered,” Benjamin says.
“To prevent this, it’s vital to build honest relationships with the community to foster trust, transparency, and credibility.” She maintains that effective development pairs early community engagement with accountability mechanisms—clear timelines, shared metrics, and named partners who are responsible for delivery. Transparency transforms community skepticism into long-standing partnerships and benefits.
In certain communities, residents don’t have the resources to hold people accountable for outcomes that were promised but not delivered.
When developers are honest about constraints and transparent about tradeoffs, residents are more likely to collaborate on solutions. To that end, Benjamin recalls projects for which community members suggested low-cost, high-value amenities such as sidewalks, lighting, and safe routes to school. These features improved life on the ground without undermining financial feasibility. Those small wins, done consistently, produce durable relationships and stronger projects.
“As a developer, you have to ask yourself, ‘Would I let my family live here?’ If the answer is ‘no,’ there’s a problem,” Benjamin says. “It’s important to not make projects so transactional that you forget the lived experience.”
Real estate journey
Benjamin entered real estate via city management by working with teams responsible for public works and infrastructure, including sewer networks, lighting, and transportation—everything that keeps neighborhoods functioning.
At the time, she thought her work would be in the municipal operations sphere, rather than the development world. Then she received an invitation that shifted her perspective.
“I didn’t fully realize how connected my work was to commercial real estate until someone invited me to be on a ULI Atlanta UrbanPlan Jury, 20 years ago,” she says.
Sitting beside seasoned developers and community leaders, Benjamin realized that the work she had been doing in the public sector was, in fact, deeply intertwined with real estate. This insight led her to deepen her relationships with real estate practitioners and to transition more intentionally into land-use and development work.
As Benjamin established herself in the real estate industry, her passion for community betterment through development remained her north star: “To me, success in development means communities have access to opportunity for everyone. Success is making sure communities have the amenities that make them healthy—safety, water and sewer, good lighting, and access to good food. In the past, these were not accessible to everyone.”
In addition to working on projects that advance this vision, Benjamin also contributes her leadership and expertise to several ULI boards and affiliates. She has served as a Global Governing Trustee, a Member of the Americas Executive Committee, and as ULI Atlanta Chair. Benjamin also currently serves on the ULI Terwilliger Housing Center Advisory Board, where she contributes to national conversations about housing affordability and development practice.
Looking forward
Benjamin’s current work at Lexicon Strategies has her collaborating with public agencies, mission-driven organizations, and private developers to align policy goals with financially viable development strategies. Lexicon Strategies focuses on helping clients navigate complex regulatory environments, structure public/private partnerships, and advance projects that respond to community priorities—much needed services in the development industry. Benjmain and Lexicon Strategies are currently working to support Capitol View Sylvan, a project in Southwest Atlanta that would transform 25 acres (10.12 ha) of vacant and industrial properties into a large mixed-use development hub.
Her experience highlights how equitable community outcomes are tied to who leads projects. She recalled the barrier of not knowing entry points to the industry earlier in her career and emphasized mentorship of young professionals to ensure community-centered outcomes are prioritized in development.
“I’m optimistic about the next generation. They understand what it means to think about people first in this work. They want to be in communities with unique and interesting people and want to solve problems for everyone in these neighborhoods.”
In addition to the excitement of young professionals, she sees growing momentum among smaller, locally rooted developers and advisory firms working to bridge gaps between public objectives and private capital. “We all want more great places to live, visit, work, and play in,” Benjamin says. “We need to figure out how we get there together.”
Ms. Benjamin was formerly the chair of ULI Atlanta and CEO of Atlanta Habitat for Humanity.
Support for this article was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.
