DAN·VENTURES

Partners · Oldivai

Housing for the people who keep a town running.

Dan Ventures and Oldivai are partners. Oldivai is a workforce housing company founded in 2022. It works with employers, cities and community partners to turn underused land into factory-built homes for the missing middle: households earning about 80 to 120% of the area median income, who make too much for most subsidized housing and too little for new market-rate rents.

Who it's for
Employees of hospitals, schools and other large employers
Where
Smaller metros, suburbs and rural towns
How it's built
Factory-built modules from a standard, repeatable design
Project Zero, Oldivai's finished factory-built workforce housing in Spokane, Washington
Project Zero · Spokane, Washington · completed 2024

How the partnership works

Oldivai brings a tested building system and deep experience running real estate for large employers. Dan Ventures brings land, development and partners in the places that need housing most.

Oldivai

A repeatable building system

  • A standard kit-of-parts design, refined on Project Zero
  • Modules built in a climate-controlled factory with interiors finished, then trucked to site and set by crane
  • Lean and Six Sigma methods to keep cost and schedule predictable

Dan Ventures

Land, towns and employers

  • Finds underused land and works with landowners, towns and employers
  • Scores land deals on Trailhead; affordable housing sites go to Oldivai
  • Brings the model into Common Frame, our attainable and workforce housing initiative

Project Zero

Oldivai's 10-unit pilot in Spokane, Washington, completed in 2024. The modules were built in a factory with interiors finished, trucked to the site and set on the foundation by crane over four days. Total construction took about eight months.

Homes
10
Modules set
4 days
Construction
About 8 months
Project Zero's finished townhome-style building from the street.
Project Zero's finished townhome-style building from the street.
The building's end wall and front entries.
The building's end wall and front entries.
Three stories of factory-built units.
Three stories of factory-built units.
A finished module arrives on a truck at dawn.
A finished module arrives on a truck at dawn.
Ribbon cutting at the finished building.
Ribbon cutting at the finished building.
Opening day at Project Zero.
Opening day at Project Zero.
Design rendering of the street view.
Design rendering of the street view.
Design rendering of the corner and accessible entry.
Design rendering of the corner and accessible entry.
Interior design rendering.
Interior design rendering.

From factory to site

Most of the work happens indoors. Modules are framed, wired and finished in a factory, wrapped, trucked to the site and set by crane, so the time spent building on site is short.

Modules are framed and fitted out on the factory floor.
Modules are framed and fitted out on the factory floor.
Wall framing and openings, set on the production line.
Wall framing and openings, set on the production line.
Finished modules are wrapped to protect them for shipping.
Finished modules are wrapped to protect them for shipping.
A finished module is loaded onto a trailer.
A finished module is loaded onto a trailer.
Modules travel to the site as oversize loads.
Modules travel to the site as oversize loads.
At the site, a crane sets each module on the foundation.
At the site, a crane sets each module on the foundation.

The people behind it

John Milne, CEO of Oldivai

Chief Executive Officer · Oldivai

John Milne, MD, MBA

John leads Oldivai's strategy and capital work. He was Senior Vice President of Real Estate at Providence St. Joseph Health, where he led strategy and operations for a $16 billion real estate portfolio. He is also a practicing emergency physician and a serial entrepreneur.

Susan Gillespie, COO of Oldivai

Chief Operating Officer · Oldivai

Susan Gillespie, MBA

Susan leads Oldivai's real estate transactions, housing design and construction, and property management. She was Executive Director for Real Estate Operations at Providence St. Joseph Health, has led more than $400 million in commercial real estate development, and is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

Daniel Kaufman, President of Oldivai and founder of Dan Ventures

President · Oldivai · Founder · Dan Ventures

Daniel Kaufman

Daniel is President of Oldivai and founder of Dan Ventures, a self-funded real estate and venture company focused on overlooked places, from growing mid-size cities to mountain towns and workforce housing. He leads Common Frame, where Dan Ventures tests modular, container and 3D-printed construction. Read his story.

Bring workforce housing to your community

If you're an employer, a town or a landowner with underused land and people who can't find a place to live nearby, we'd like to hear from you.

Have land?Get it scored on TrailheadLiftie scores your land deal in about a minute. Qualifying deals get a review meeting.Submit land → Employer or town?Start a conversationTell us about the housing need and what you have to work with.Partner with us →
Oldivaioldivai.com PartnersAll Dan Ventures partners

Project details and team biographies are from Oldivai. Nothing on this page is an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any security or interest in any project or company.