Dubin

What Dubin does

Dubin is a privately held, founder-owned real estate development firm founded in 1987 and headquartered in the Chicago metropolitan area. The company develops residential product — including townhomes, condominiums, and loft conversions — alongside commercial spaces, with a cumulative track record of 1,200+ residential units and more than 100,000 square feet of commercial space delivered in Chicagoland since 1990. Dubin has been consecutively recognized among the Top 50 Chicago Area Builders for five years and has received multiple awards from the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago.

The firm differentiates through expertise in complex public financing — stacking New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC), Tax Increment Financing (TIF), Historic Tax Credits (HTC), and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) — and through historic rehabilitation and adaptive-reuse capabilities applied to designated structures. Its 2017 acquisition of the Duluth Board of Trade Building in Minnesota illustrates the extension of that adaptive-reuse practice beyond the Chicago market, with additional activity in Peoria, Illinois. Dubin generates revenue through project-based sales of completed units and commercial space to retail and institutional buyers, operating a lean sponsor model with a small internal team and reliance on third-party contractors. The 2024 divestiture of USSC to Cogenuity Partners signals a refocusing onto the core real estate development business.

Name

Dubin

Legal name

Dubin Residential

Website

https://mydubin.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1987

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Dubin is a Chicago-area real estate developer founded in 1987 that builds townhomes, condos, lofts, and commercial space, specializing in historic rehabilitation projects funded through NMTC, TIF, HTC, and LIHTC financing, and serving retail buyers across Chicagoland, Peoria, and Duluth, MN.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Residential Real Estate Development

NAICS

New Housing For-Sale Builders (236117), Residential Remodelers (236118)

SIC

General Bldg Contractors - Residential Bldgs (1520), Real Estate Dealers (For Their Own Account) (6532)

akta.pro primary industry

Multi-Family Residential Construction (Apartments, Condos, Townhomes) (IMAFABAB)

Keywords

• Residential real estate development
• Urban infill housing
• Historic rehabilitation
• Adaptive reuse projects
• Multi-family construction

Headquarters

HQ city

Deerfield

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Real Estate Development and Sales: The company develops residential properties (townhomes, condos, lofts) and commercial spaces for direct sale to buyers. Revenue is generated through property sales transactions. Projects include new construction, historic rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse developments.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Dubin develops and sells residential real estate, including townhomes, condominiums, lofts, and multi-family housing in Chicago-area neighborhoods, with specialized work in urban infill, historic rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse. The company also offers commercial development and complex tax credit financing services (NMTC, TIF, HTC, LIHTC) to support urban revitalization projects. Since 1990, it has developed more than 1,200 residential units and 100,000+ square feet of commercial space, primarily serving first-time homebuyers and urban neighborhoods.

Product overview

Dubin (also known as Dubin Residential, Dubin Guru Group, or The Dubin-Guru Group) is a Chicago-area real estate development company offering an integrated platform of residential development services. The company develops single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and lofts through new construction, historic rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse. Their service portfolio includes land acquisition, entitlements, financing (using NMTC, HTC, and TIF instruments), construction management, and property management. Key development projects include The Shoemaker Lofts (luxury loft living), Welbourn Row (West Lakeview condominiums), The Buck Townes (townhomes), The Lofts at Bridgeport Place (historic adaptive reuse), McKinley Park Village (TIF-financed development), and the Duluth Board of Trade Building (historic rehabilitation in Minnesota). Since 1987, the company has developed more than 1,200 residential units and 100,000+ sf of commercial space across Chicago neighborhoods.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Welbourn Row

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1200 residential units developed since 1990
• +2 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• The Habitat Company: Long-standing Chicago-based residential developer and property manager operating in multifamily and mixed-use developments, with a comparable focus on urban neighborhoods and affordable/market-rate housing in Chicagoland.
• Brinshore Development: Chicago-area affordable and mixed-income housing developer that relies heavily on LIHTC, HTC, and TIF financing — closely mirroring Dubin's tax-credit-driven urban infill and historic rehab model.
• Belgravia Group: Chicago-based residential developer focused on urban in-fill condominiums and townhomes in neighborhoods such as Lincoln Park, West Loop, and Bucktown — a direct comparator in product type and submarket.
• Holsten Real Estate Development: Chicago-focused affordable and mixed-income housing developer leveraging LIHTC and public financing for urban and suburban multifamily projects — closely comparable development model and target resident base.

Broad incumbents

• Related Midwest: Major national developer with deep Chicago presence (e.g., The 78, Roosevelt Square), pursuing large-scale mixed-use and residential projects with similar public-finance and community-development orientation, but at much larger scale.
• Toll Brothers: National for-sale homebuilder that competes in the urban-townhome/condo segment, including Chicago-area projects; much larger scale but adjacent product offering and buyer demographic.
• BAM (formerly Lendlease Development): Large international developer with U.S. multifamily and mixed-use operations, including Chicago, that competes for large urban development sites and partners with municipalities on complex, tax-credit-backed projects.

Others

• McShane Construction Company: Midwest-based general contractor executing multifamily, affordable housing, and adaptive reuse builds — a construction counterpart rather than direct competitor, but operates in the same Chicago project ecosystem.
• Cogenuity Partners: Private investment firm that acquired USSC from the broader Dubin Clark network; relevant as a capital partner with demonstrated exposure to the Dubin affiliate ecosystem.

Emerging players

• Hispanic Housing Development Corporation: Chicago-area nonprofit developer of affordable and mixed-income housing using LIHTC and other public financing — overlapping Dubin's affordable urban infill mission on a smaller, mission-driven basis.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/thedubinguru
• Facebookfacebook.com/thedubingurugroup
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-dubin-guru-group

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Dubin