Johnny Opara named as TCB's 100 List for 2025

[Originally published by TCB Mag, Written by Liz Fedor, Allison Kaplan, Kelly Kegans, Sarah Lutman, Stephanie March, Steve Marsh, Tina Nguyen, Dan Niepow, Adam Platt, Gene Rebeck, and Hannah Ward: View Source]

The TCB 100 is the list of all lists, the essential guide to people in and around Minnesota business likely to make news and drive change in the year ahead. We include not just corporate types, but also leaders in government and philanthropy who intersect with business. We’ve dynamited silos to bridge specialties and industries to introduce you to a group of individuals who may not all be household names, but whom we expect to emerge in that direction in the year ahead. So read on and share in the success of a few old friends and get to know a big bunch of new ones.

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Johnny Opara
(President/CEO, JO Companies)

Categories: Real Estate
Year: 2025

Johnny Opara emigrated from Nigeria to the U.S. when he was 3 months old. His family moved across the South before landing in the Twin Cities. Opara’s dad later suffered a health crisis that limited his ability to work, his income, and his access to quality housing. His struggles led Opara to quit a corporate job to become a developer focused on high-quality housing for people of limited means. He worked five jobs, liquidated his 401(k), and endured four years of “no,” but eventually he found mentors and closed on his first property in 2021, The Hollows on St. Paul’s East Side. Today, JO owns 116 units, with $200 million of development in the pipeline, and is one of the developers on The Heights in northeast St. Paul. In 2025, Opara expects full occupancy of his Wangstad Commons in Brooklyn Center and hopes to close financing for one phase of The Heights and the Penn Station Apartments in Richfield.

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