Pittsburgh State of the Market

Eve Picker is the founder and CEO of Small Change, a real estate equity crowdfunding platform. We raise funds for meaningful real estate projects building better cities everywhere. Through Small Change, Eve has created a fluid and compliant platform that brings impact investment opportunities to everyone who cares about cities and wants to make change. Eve’s past led her directly to Small Change. Her background as an architect, city planner, urban designer, real estate developer, community development strategist, publisher, and all-around instigator gives her a rich understanding of how cities work, how urban neighborhoods can be revitalized, what policies are needed to do it, and the unique marketing that creates the buzz needed for regeneration. Amongst her many urban (ad)ventures, she’s developed a dozen buildings in blighted neighborhoods, founded a non-profit, cityLAB, built Pittsburgh’s first tiny house and first downtown lofts, organized a speaker series, launched a Pittsburgh e-zine called Pop City, and established downtown Pittsburgh’s first co-working space. I also co-founded Pittsburgh’s wildly successful Open Streets program and now host a weekly podcast series about real estate impact investing. Some honors I’m proud of include Small Change ranking as one of 7 top Real Estate Crowdfunding Platforms of 2020 by US News, nabbing Top Innovator in the “Capital” category by HIVE, my tenure as a Fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center Residency Program and our recent participation in Village Capital’s FinHealth US 2021, an accelerator program for early-stage startups. Most recently Connect CRE made me one of their National 2022 Women in Real Estate Awards winners. All of these experiences have led me to become one of the foremost thinkers on urban change.

Dusty concentrates her practice on all aspects of real estate development, acquisitions and economic incentives, with an emphasis on real estate litigation, including real estate tax-assessment appeals, land-use and zoning appeals, and eminent domain proceedings. Dusty counsels her clients on an array of sustainability issues that impact development projects and facilities, including advice on sustainable development matters such as the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, and regulatory compliance matters such as greenhouse gas emission regulations, obtaining other regulatory approvals, negotiating complex contractual arrangements, resolving disputes, and managing risk avoidance.