Hooper & Keap — Kermit Westergaard

Hooper & Keap is a development company founded in 2014 by Kermit Westergaard, a multidisciplinary designer, builder, and entrepreneur. Kermit and his wife raised their three boys in Ridgewood, Queens and continue to work in the neighborhood.

Our properties are acquired with private investment funds, and range in size from a two-family row house to a mixed-use, four-family with four stores. We currently manage eleven buildings with thirty residential units and ten storefronts.

A key component of our work has been developing a community of small independent businesses in an area of Ridgewood that previously had a high number of vacant storefronts. Our commercial spaces are 100% occupied by small, independent business owners who are inspired by their work, care about the community, and want to do good in the world.