The Autobiography of William Zeckendorf
Long before there was Trump: The Art of the Deal there was Zeckendorf.
It can be argued that Bill Zeckendorf is the most impactful real estate developer in New York City history. By far he’s the most important developer that nobody remembers. Recently read his autobiography and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in either history or real estate.
If it was not for Bill Zeckendorf there’d be no iconic UN building in NYC. That building would be in Philadelphia instead, where they went so far as to condemn the buildings on the land they were going to use. It was basically a fait accompli before Bill Zeckendorf, yet the Rockerfellers historically get all the acclaim. He was a man who dropped out of high school and college but went on to hold four honorary doctorates. There was only one Bill Zeckendorf.
Like Donald Trump, he was a chronic name-dropper. From I.M. Pei (who he discovered at Harvard), to the Rockerfellers, the Astors, Arthur Vining Davis, Bob Moses, Howard Hughes, even Fidel Castro, you name it and Zeckendorf dropped it. Like a true New Yorker, he also loved taking shots at Boston, “the Robin Hoods of Boston Common” and a “political Congo.”
And like Trump, he went bankrupt before he wrote his book and rebounded. He once wrote, “In moments of crisis, one’s world tends to become simplified, and its people and events fall into distinct categories.” Great words of life advice if you dwell on them.
He was greatly effected by the 1929 crash and its after-effects. It happened during his formative years and he saw first hand how it made people in real estate different. He took advantage. Especially when it came to land taxes. To him, “The only trick was not to be so awed and frightened by the present that you were not able to see the future that lay within it.”
From the UN building, Wall Street (his Wall Street mavuever shaped the financial capital of America to this very day), the Center of Denver, and downtown Montreal - there was no other single person who so changed the outlook of North America. His Hawaiian Deal model is still relevant today for anyone in real estate (in my estimation).
As mentioned above, I highly recommend The Autobiography of William Zeckendorf.
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