Spending much of his youth inside his family’s bodegas, Danilo A. Burgos, STH ’19 absorbed early the values of hard work and industriousness. Now as co-founder of real estate development firm Burg Properties LLC, Burgos has used those values to launch his own enterprise: providing quality housing in a city where it’s in perilously short supply.
Photo by Photo credit: Joseph V. Labolito
In the next five years, our goal is to establish a strong presence in the city and be recognized as a premier Dominican American real estate development firm.”
Burgos comes from self-described “humble beginnings.” The families of both his father, a first-generation Dominican-American, and mother, a Dominican immigrant, were owners of bodegas, small corner grocery stores woven into the fabric of Latino communities. At as early as 10 years old, Burgos remembers helping in his family’s stores, which started in South Philly and later expanded to West Philly and his native Northeast.
“I can remember restocking the fridges, picking up merchandise, working with the cook in the kitchen... strategizing on how to increase profits,” Burgos said.
By high school, his parents had sold the stores but Burgos continued to work at his uncle’s bodegas, while also juggling studies and athletics at Abraham Lincoln High School. He credits the experience with teaching him valuable lessons in time management and customer service, but says he also realized that bodega ownership was not for him.
Burgos hadn’t even thought about attending college until his junior year of high school—no one in his family had gone before. Realizing he wanted more, Burgos enrolled in the Philadelphia Futures (now Heights Philadelphia), a scholarship program that seeks to connect Black, brown and first-generation youth with career and college opportunities.
Guidance from mentor Michael Waxman helped Burgos think about his goals and aspirations. “I knew that I wanted to challenge myself and stand out in a big pond, so I chose Temple University,” he said. “Temple’s networking opportunities and support for individual growth stood out to me. Choosing Temple meant paving the way for my success with a community that cares. It’s not just a university, it’s a path to greatness.”
During his sophomore year, he made the shift from commuter to living on campus and he began paying attention as friends and acquaintances discussed their own living arrangements. His interest in real estate began to percolate.
The spark came when Burgos’ brother would visit Temple, and the two endeavored to go into business together.
College: School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management
Degree: BS, Tourism and Hospitality Management, 2019
Industry: Real Estate Development
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Danilo and his brother, Danilo, share the same first name as their father, a state representative for North Philadelphia, but have different middle initials.
During high school, Danilo swam and played baseball.
With no background in real estate, Burgos began attending industry networking events and forging connections. One paid off with an internship opportunity at PRDC Properties, a large residential and luxury builder in the city. There, Burgos learned the ropes by analyzing development deals, filing paperwork, managing construction projects, and attending condo board meetings.
After graduation, PRDC offered him a full-time position, serving as assistant project manager as the firm converted an old hat factory at 13th and Callowhill into 97 apartments and commercial space.
In addition to his day job, Burgos and his brother began house-hacking and purchasing long term rental properties in the city and launching Burg Properties in 2019. At first the properties they worked on were duplexes and triplexes that didn’t require much work. But then they performed a complete rehab of a six-unit building. That helped build the confidence to dive into their business full-time.
The combined experiences also created a desire to focus on quality economically priced housing.
“Witnessing the boom of luxury housing fueled us to develop a strategy that also caters to the needs of all individuals. We believe that everyone deserves access to a comfortable and high-quality living environment,” Burgos said.
The brothers hope for a banner year in 2023, when they plan to leverage the city’s Land Bank program and various government grant and incentive programs available to minority-owned businesses to begin developing economically-viable projects. They understand they will need to partner with other like-minded firms to provide and deliver these projects. If all goes according to plan, they hope to replicate early successes, such as an eight-unit property in Tacony in which they collaborated with the neighborhood’s community development corporation and the Color Me Back program. The program, a partnership with the city’s Mural Arts, draws on the successful experiences of other cities in offering ‘same day wage’ to help address economic instability.
“We transformed an unsightly wall into a beautiful mural,” said Burgos. “By utilizing available resources, we were able to create something beautiful for the community. It’s a reminder of the power of collective effort for the greater good.”
