Ricker | Cunningham

What Ricker | Cunningham does

Ricker | Cunningham is a privately held real estate advisory firm founded in February 1993 by Anne Ricker and Bill Cunningham as Leland Consulting Group and rebranded under its current name in 2010. The firm is headquartered in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and positions itself as a practice of Real Estate Economists and Community Strategists serving urban renewal authorities, municipal governments, and private developers across the Central and Southwestern United States. The firm reports that its principals have been engaged by more than three-quarters of Colorado's active Urban Renewal Authorities over their 30+ year careers.

The firm's service offering spans urban renewal planning, downtown and corridor revitalization strategy, community planning, and private development advisory. Engagements are delivered through project-based and retainer arrangements, with named projects including the City of Wheat Ridge Urban Renewal Authority (since 2009), the Marshalltown Iowa Downtown Master Plan following EF-3 tornado devastation, the Silverthorne 4th Street Crossing catalyst project, and the Fort Worth Commercial Corridors Revitalization Strategy. The firm's revenue model is professional services fees; no pricing tiers, software products, or technology platforms are disclosed. The firm has accumulated industry recognition including awards from APA, ULI, IDA, the Form-Based Codes Institute (Driehaus Award), and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and its principals have provided expert testimony in multiple reported cases and before the Colorado State Legislature.

The go-to-market motion is sales-led and relationship-driven, relying on direct engagement with government entities and private developers, professional referrals, industry conference presence, and thought leadership content. The firm has no disclosed headcount beyond its two founders/managing principals, no external funding, no subsidiaries, and no M&A activity. As a boutique advisory partnership, its growth capacity is constrained by the founders' bandwidth and the firm's deliberate focus on senior-led, high-touch engagements rather than scaled service delivery.

Name

Ricker | Cunningham

Legal name

Ricker | Cunningham

Website

https://rickercunningham.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1993

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Ricker | Cunningham is a privately held real estate advisory firm based in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, that provides urban renewal planning, downtown revitalization, and community strategy services to municipal governments, urban renewal authorities, and private developers across the Central and Southwestern United States.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Real Estate Advisory & Urban Planning Consulting

NAICS

Other Activities Related to Real Estate (531390)

SIC

Real Estate Agents & Managers (For Others) (6531)

akta.pro primary industry

Land Brokerage (Raw Land & Development Sites) (FSAEAJAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Land & Development Site Brokerage (BPAJABAG)

Keywords

• Real estate advisory
• Urban renewal planning
• Community planning
• Downtown redevelopment
• Corridor revitalization

Headquarters

HQ city

Highlands Ranch

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Advisory and Consulting Services: Ricker | Cunningham generates revenue through professional advisory and consulting fees for real estate economics, urban renewal planning, market strategy development, and community planning services. Services are provided to government entities (urban renewal authorities, cities, towns) and private developers/investors. Engagements appear to be project-based or retainer arrangements.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Ricker | Cunningham is a real estate advisory firm that assists communities, developers, lenders, and public-sector clients with understanding opportunities for and barriers to investment and reinvestment. The firm delivers urban renewal planning, downtown and corridor revitalization strategies, community planning, and private development advisory services as project-based consulting and retainer engagements across the Central and Southwestern United States.

Product overview

Ricker | Cunningham is a professional services firm offering real estate advisory, urban renewal planning, downtown redevelopment, corridor planning, community planning, and private development consulting services. As a practice of Real Estate Economists and Community Strategists, they do not offer a software product platform but rather provide expert advisory services to communities, developers, lenders, and public sector clients. Their services are delivered through consulting engagements rather than a technology product or SaaS platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Urban Renewal Planning & Advisory
• Community Plans
• Downtown & Infill Planning Planning and advisory services for downtown districts and infill development, including catalyst project structuring, mixed-use program design, and positioning of new urban districts as commercial cores.
• Corridor Plans Commercial corridor revitalization strategy services for municipalities, including policy changes, urban design standards, and organizational restructuring to enable redirection of resources to central city redevelopment, as delivered for the City of Fort Worth, TX.
• Private Development Advisory Advisory services for private developers and real estate investors covering market strategy formulation, target market identification, financial packaging, development program design, pre-development team coordination, and feasibility analysis.
• Expert Testimony Services Expert witness and testimony services provided by the firm's principals in urban renewal-related litigation and legislative proceedings, including matters before the Colorado State Legislature and cases in Colorado, New Mexico, Iowa, Texas, and U.S. District Court.

Named customers5 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• SEH (Planning and Urban Design Division)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSEH is a St. Paul-based engineering and design firm with offices in nine cities. Principals of Ricker | Cunningham collaborated with SEH's Planning and Urban Design Division on the Marshalltown Downtown Master Plan following the 2018 tornado devastation.
• Milender WhitecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMilender White was selected as the Town of Silverthorne's development partner for the 4th Street Crossing catalyst project. Ricker | Cunningham functions as Financial and Development Advisor alongside this development partner.
• Martha-Ellen Tye FoundationsupportingOthersProvided $200,000 planning grant for the Marshalltown Downtown Master Plan project.
• U.S. Economic Development AdministrationsupportingOthersProvided funding support for the Marshalltown Downtown Master Plan recovery initiative.
• Iowa Economic Development Authority and Iowa Finance AuthoritysupportingOthersProvided $2 million Community Catalyst Building Remediation and Main Street Mortgage Loan grant for Marshalltown recovery.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Strategic Economics: Real estate economics and urban planning consultancy focused on downtown revitalization, TOD, and mixed-use development advisory. Directly comparable boutique advisory practice serving California and Western US markets.
• ECONorthwest: Economic and planning consulting firm with deep municipal expertise in land use, urban renewal, and economic development strategy. Comparable in size, niche focus, and public sector client base.
• TischlerBise: Specializes in fiscal impact analysis, economic development, and public finance consulting for local governments. Closely aligned with Ricker | Cunningham's municipal advisory and urban renewal planning work.
• Econsult Solutions: Economic consulting firm providing real estate economics, urban redevelopment, and public policy analysis. Comparable in serving both government and private developer clients with similar economic and fiscal advisory services.
• Place Economics: Real estate economic development and downtown revitalization advisory firm. Specializes in downtown market analysis, retail strategy, and public-private deal structuring — directly overlapping with Ricker | Cunningham's downtown and corridor planning work.
• BAE Urban Economics: Urban economics consulting firm providing real estate market analysis, redevelopment strategy, and fiscal impact studies for public and private sector clients. Directly competes in the urban renewal and downtown revitalization advisory space.
• Keyser Marston Associates: Real estate economics and public finance advisory firm focused on affordable housing, urban redevelopment, and public-private partnerships. Directly comparable niche advisory practice serving municipal and developer clients with similar services.
• BBC Research & Consulting: Economic, planning, and community development consulting firm serving municipal clients with market analysis, redevelopment strategy, and equity-focused planning work. Directly comparable mid-sized niche advisory firm.

Broad incumbents

• HR&A Advisors: Large-scale real estate and economic development advisory firm serving cities, developers, and institutions on complex urban projects. Operates in the same advisory space as Ricker | Cunningham but at significantly greater scale and national footprint.
• RCLCO Real Estate Advisors: National real estate advisory firm providing market analysis, feasibility, and development strategy to public and private clients. Overlaps with Ricker | Cunningham on private development advisory and market strategy formulation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/rickercunningham

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 Ricker | Cunningham