Whitteney Guyton refers to We Buy The Block, the real estate investment group she founded in 2021, as a movement.
Powered by financial resources and a profound commitment to rebuild and restore diverse communities in Hampton Roads, the movement invested $1.8 million in Gloucester County.
Three properties at 3048, 3056 and 3057 Hickory Fork Road were recently added to its growing portfolio.
“I just fell in love with the property and all that it can and will be,” Guyton said.
Located on 6 acres, all three structures will become a mental health residential facility for children and a charter school, The Creek Manor Academy.
The property at 3048 Hickory Fork Road will open first while the other two require extensive renovations. Guyton said she hopes to open the school this summer.
She also said she would like to bring a bed-and-breakfast and brewery to Gloucester — a county she’s developed an admiration for.
We Buy The Block’s first investment in November 2021 in the former Tidewater Community College visual arts building and an adjacent Dollar General in Portsmouth are what birthed the idea.
“There are a lot of people that are flipping houses one or two at a time, but with buying power and coming together as an investment group, we can buy bigger pieces of property and land to build either new communities or revitalize communities in need,” Guyton said.
We Buy The Block’s vision is to use the resources within the community so they can actually stay within the community, Guyton said.
“A lot of times with gentrification comes removing elements out of a community that were deeply rooted inside of that community,” Guyton said.
She said the movement is there to not only help first-time homebuyers and small business owners with an affordable investment, but also hire local workers to do the revitalization.
The organization works with franchises to bring them to areas they would not normally buy into. It also has a program to invest a percentage of We Buy The Block’s annual earnings to local nonprofits.
Helping alongside Guyton is her wife, Darmeshia, owner of MeMe G Design Co. in downtown Portsmouth and a real estate agent with Victory Allegiance Realty.
Originally from Chicago, Guyton earned a psychology degree in 2004 from Norfolk State University and has called Hampton Roads home ever since.
In 2016, she opened Synergy Health Systems in Portsmouth. The business includes counseling, therapeutic treatment centers, an adult day care center and a pharmacy.
As a businessperson and entrepreneur who was already doing rehabs for her business, Guyton said she saw the logic behind buying real estate instead of renting.
Moving further into real estate development seemed even more logical for Guyton.
Guyton is also the principal owner of the investment group, 5 Elite Group, co-owner of the area’s first Black-owned brewery, 1865 Brewing in Hampton, and Shew Velocity Sportsplex in Portsmouth.
“We’re just not taking disadvantaged people and throwing them to the wolves,” she said. “That’s not fair, that is not right. As a Black person in America, that is what’s happening to a lot of our urban areas.”
Motivated to provide for others and help others provide for their own, Guyton said she’s shaking things up to bring about change.
“I want to change the whole entire face of what you think wealthy looks like, what you think successful looks like, and what you think an entrepreneur looks like,” Guyton said. “It’s a new phase.”
Sandra J. Pennecke, 757-652-5836, sandra.pennecke@insidebiz.com
