{"id":10734,"date":"2023-12-28T15:20:52","date_gmt":"2023-12-28T15:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=10734"},"modified":"2023-12-28T15:20:52","modified_gmt":"2023-12-28T15:20:52","slug":"construction-mogul-lauds-his-time-at-central-state-university-for-helping-him-achieve-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/28\/construction-mogul-lauds-his-time-at-central-state-university-for-helping-him-achieve-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Construction Mogul Lauds His Time at Central State University for Helping Him Achieve Success"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Bryan \u201cScottie\u201d Irving pictured with fellow alumnus Joshua Smith at the 2020 Central State University Hall of Fame celebration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Special to The Truth \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Originally from Washington, D.C., Bryan \u201cScottie\u201d Irving has spent his life on the move and credits his
\nastonishing mobility, resilience, and endurance in large part to his having graduated from Central State University.<\/p>\n

A titan of the real estate development and large-scale construction industries, Irving\u2019s impressive career as a renaissance man has previously spanned such fields as history teacher, sports agent, and fashion entrepreneur.<\/p>\n

As the founder and principal of Blue Skye Development and Construction Company, Irving\u2019s work concentrates on myriad contracts for a variety of residential, commercial, and government clients throughout the Washington D.C., metropolitan Area. With an avowed interest in humanitarianism that
\ndrives much of the company\u2019s goals, Blue Skye often focuses on affordable housing projects and housing for first-time homebuyers.<\/p>\n

Irving received his Bachelor of Science in Sociology after transferring to Central State as a sophomore in 1986.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first school I attended on a football scholarship was in the middle of Colorado, and I just never felt at home there, never felt 100 percent comfortable,\u201d Irving said. \u201cGoing from Washington, D.C., to Colorado, going from a city that was 90 percent African American to a city that\u2019s 90 percent
\nwhite was a bit tough for me. I wanted to be somewhere a little closer to home and where I thought I could accelerate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irving learned about Central State while he was in high school due to the large base of alumni and supporters who populate his home region. An older business partner who was attending Central State and with whom Irving had started a T-shirt company with during the summer after graduating high school would tell the budding young mogul about the school, as well, even taking Irving one year to Central\u2019s Homecoming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was fascinated because there were a lot of D.C. players on the football team,\u201d Irving said. \u201cSo, Central State was already on my radar at least as early as that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irving recalls he felt \u201cimmediately at home\u201d at the Institution that would ultimately become his alma mater.<\/p>\n

Although Irving\u2019s passion for football quickly waned once he began attending Central State, his craving for community involvement was as potent as ever. He switched his energy to his interest in sociology, starting up the school\u2019s Sociology Club and D.C. Pre-Alumni Club.<\/p>\n

Irving additionally continued running his earlier D.C.-based T-shirt company, Madness, selling his wares around campus throughout his time in school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started the T-shirt company really just because I needed to find something to do during the summer,\u201d Irving explained. \u201cD.C. is a place where you always have to keep moving yourself forward, keep yourself busy \u2014 you migrate to behavior that you may not want to be a part of. So, I
\ndecided to stay busy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irving and friends would pack up their boxes of shirts emblazoned with their slogan of \u201cSummer Madness\u201d in the trunks of their cars, driving around the city and selling them wherever they could find customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey sold ridiculously,\u201d Irving remembers. \u201cThey sold really well. But I had always wanted to go to college, so I knew I couldn\u2019t stop there. Selling T-shirts was great, but I wanted to go and get my college degree, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Believing that he already understood the practical business world well due to his success with Madness and other enterprises he\u2019d been involved with in his youth, Irving chose sociology as his college major to challenge himself. He also hoped he could better understand human behavior through such education, something he hoped would in turn make him a better
\nbusinessman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a big fan of Paul Robeson, I was a big fan of W.E.B. Du Bois, and I wanted to understand how and why people act the way they do,\u201d Irving added. \u201cIt was also because I lived in D.C. in \u201968. I was 4 years old when Dr. King was killed. I saw the riots. And, so, I was always interested in the people and how to put the pieces back together again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irving received his degree in 1991, took a few graduate courses in teaching elsewhere, and began teaching U.S. History, World History, and A.P. (Advanced Placement) History in D.C.<\/p>\n

Thanks to his grandfather having left him a four-unit apartment building before he went to college, Irving lived in one of the units and had friends in the building, including a fellow teacher and Centralian.<\/p>\n

After moving out of his apartment for a new house of his own, Irving sold the building and began traveling the country with another friend as a sports agent specializing in NFL and NBA athletes living in and hailing from Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just knew all these local guys playing sports, and I knew they had a chance, so I was able to get in touch with them and have conversations that led to their signings,\u201d Irving said. \u201cIt was just about being around D.C.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irving worked as a certified agent for six years, during which time he was proud to oversee the career of Sacramento Kings forward Mike Smith. Thereafter, Irving restarted his teaching work and also dove into real estate, acquiring larger and larger buildings.<\/p>\n

During his lunch hours at school, he would go observe what the general contractor he had hired was doing with his buildings and soon became \u201cuncomfortable with what he was doing. I became unsure about the guy, and that led me to stop teaching and start concentrating more on my development
\ncompany.\u201d<\/p>\n

By 2006, Irving went all in on property development, starting the company he currently runs, Blue Skye, named after his favorite color and the name of his daughter, Skye.<\/p>\n

Blue Skye is now developing 2,000 units in D.C., 50 percent of which are affordable units, meaning they are specialized for tenants living at or below 30 percent of the area median income (AMI). Units will also be available for those living at 60 percent and 80 percent AMI. Irving feels very fortunate to have won the request for proposal from the city itself some years back to move forward with the affordable units.<\/p>\n

Irving and his company have contracted and continued to develop other projects for low-income and previously homeless residents throughout the city. Due to the fact that many of these tenants have never been in an apartment before, Blue Skye will also teach them how to use appliances and
\nother life skills essential and useful for apartment living.<\/p>\n

Another of Blue Skye\u2019s buildings is an area men\u2019s shelter spanning 400 units. It has also built a homeless day center and temporary housing units for those in transition. Blue Skye\u2019s latest deal is as general contractor of a $72 million project that will result in a new elementary school. Altogether, with his construction and development deals, Irving\u2019s company brings in nearly $100 million a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I was working on my condos and buildings, I would bring in some of the kids to help who I was teaching to keep them off the streets and keep them busy,\u201d Irving said. \u201cSo, I was always integrating what I learned at Central State in Sociology and still do today. It was at Central State that I got to understand myself better and my commitment to the community, because they always stressed that to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was those individuals at Central State who were my instructors and professors and mentors that taught me a lot about life and a lot about organization. I love Central State. It gave me a place to go and find solitude and myself. I get emotional about it. It\u2019s a place near and dear to my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

-30-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Special to The Truth \u00a0 Originally from Washington, D.C., Bryan \u201cScottie\u201d Irving has spent his life on the move and credits his astonishing mobility, resilience, and endurance in large part to his having graduated from Central State University. A titan of the real estate development and large-scale construction industries, Irving\u2019s impressive career as a renaissance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,17],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[208],"class_list":["post-10734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headline","category-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10734"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10736,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10734\/revisions\/10736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10734"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=10734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}