Carl M. Freeman began his real estate career in California in 1937, concentrating on sales and land planning activities. After six years in the business, he left California to join the Army. He served during World War II in the Army Engineers in the China-Burma-India Theater of operations. At the end of the war, he relocated to the Washington, D.C. area and resumed his career in real estate.

Founded in 1947, the Carl M. Freeman Associates, Inc built its first housing community in Carole Highlands, Maryland. The award-winning development featured Mr. Freeman’s California Cottage home, creating a community of truly livable spaces.

In the early 1950s the Company expanded into apartment building development. Together with an emphasis on balconies, patios, and contemporary design, the fabulously successful Americana garden apartment became the company trademark through the 1950s and 1960s. The design, featuring the window-wall concept to let the outside in, was quickly copied throughout the United States. Since the 1950s, the Carl M. Freeman Companies built planned communities in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Iowa. During Mr. Freeman’s lifetime, the Company participated in the development of more than 20,000 apartment units, townhouses and single-family homes in over 50 residential communities.

In 1957, Mr. Freeman was a founder and the first president of the Suburban Maryland Building Industry Association, an organization of builders and related trade professionals — established with the intent of creating and maintaining relationships with federal, state, county, and civic agencies. In addition to a number of these civic activities, Mr. Freeman also led major philanthropic efforts throughout the Greater Washington area — a contribution to the community that the Companies and The Carl M. Freeman Foundation continue today.