(FORTUNE Small Business) – Everyone knows the three most important words in real estate: location, location, location. For decades those three words were reason enough for entrepreneurs to steer clear of Oak Park, a neighborhood in Sacramento. But with help from Kevin Johnson, the retired NBA superstar, the area has become a hot spot for enterprising small business people.

Johnson, 36, grew up in Oak Park, whose once-bustling business district declined in the 1960s after a freeway cut the area off from downtown Sacramento. "Residents were forced to leave the neighborhood just to sit down to a nice meal," says Johnson.

But Johnson, who left at 18 to play basketball for the University of California at Berkeley and later for the Phoenix Suns, has returned to attempt to revitalize his childhood home--with the assistance of small businesses. Under the name of the nonprofit St. Hope Development Corp., he's purchased land and buildings over several city blocks. Now he's working on filling that space with commercial activity.

"It's got to be more than a building in the middle of a neighborhood," says Tracy Stigler, St. Hope's president. "There's got to be businesses that complement each other."

When it came to courting the initial businesses, Johnson's star power got the ball bouncing. When K.J. wanted a large gathering space, Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz personally okayed an oversized venue big enough for cultural performances. But it's the small local businesses that are taking the biggest risks. A popular barbershop, Tommy's Cut Hut, is moving in; Randy Paragary, a prominent restaurateur, is consulting on a "nouveau soul" restaurant; and the Sacramento Philharmonic has moved its offices from downtown.

"It used to be a thriving community, and I think it still can be," says Carol McNeal, who is moving her bookstore--which she's owned for 18 years--to Oak Park. Besides, she laughs, "people follow me wherever I go."

Will they follow her to Oak Park? Johnson and the other business owners moving in certainly hope so.