Episode 1: Monte Anderson

Monte Anderson is the perfect first guest for Unconventional Urbanism because he’s truly a unicorn developer.

I first met Monte Anderson around 2018 through the Incremental Development Alliance. At the time, my former boss, Dennis Strait, was instrumental in bringing IncDev to Kansas City as part of the Making a Great City speaker series. This experience is what ultimately inspired me to launch Small Developers of KC. Somewhere in the middle of all that, Monte and I met, and we’ve been kindred spirits ever since.

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to not just learn from Monte, but to work alongside him. One of the most formative experiences was collaborating on a project called “Marlborough Commons” with the Kansas City Community Land Trust, where we supported the redevelopment of a long-vacant school building into a community-centered, mixed-use space similar in spirit to his well-known project, Tyler Station.

What stood out most to me was Monte’s approach to community engagement. He doesn’t show up with polished renderings or predetermined ideas. Instead, he brings blank floor plans and asks a simple question: What’s missing from your neighborhood?

Through this simple question, something powerful happens. Neighbors begin to imagine together. A cafeteria becomes a food hall. Hallways turn into shared gathering spaces. A gym transforms into a dance studio. A theater becomes a wedding venue. The old music room becomes rentable studio space. Conversations expand to include childcare, medical services, small business space, and more.

It’s not performative engagement. It’s market research, community visioning, and feasibility testing all at once. It’s real. Monte is clear about what won’t work, but he invites people into the tradeoffs, the constraints, and the possibilities. The result is a process rooted in trust, iteration, and shared sense of possibility.

In my role, I was focused on facilitating entitlements and zoning, but what I took away was a deep appreciation for the complexity and the responsibility of revitalizing places that communities care about.

Monte’s work through Options Real Estate Investments and Neighborhood Evolution has made him something of a legend in the incremental development world. His projects, including Main Station Duncanville, Wheatland Plaza, and Tyler Station, don’t just reshape buildings; they reshape how we think about development itself.

Monte has expanded his impact through Neighborhood Evolution, a platform dedicated to teaching and supporting the next generation of small-scale developers. Through workshops, community-based programs, and their “12 Steps to Town Making” framework, Neighborhood Evolution helps everyday people like planners, business owners, and neighbors to build the skills, networks, and confidence needed take on their own development projects. The work is deeply hands-on, and focused not just on theory but on helping people move real deals forward in their own communities.

But more than anything, Monte is someone I consider a source of deep, unconventional wisdom. He’s impacted me both professionally and personally in ways that are hard to fully capture. A couple of his words have stuck with me over the years:
“When you’re up, stay humble. When you’re down, stay grateful.”
“We are spiritual beings having a human experience… and so many of us sell out for such a short amount of time we have.”

Monte has been a mentor, a collaborator, and a friend… and I truly believe the world is a better place with him in it.

Podcast music courtesy of Camila Segura Rivera.