From the March issue: To be a Zeckendorf, one of New York City’s most influential real estate families, is to be both inspired and haunted by the past.
William Zeckendorf Sr., or “Big Bill,” was a beefy mogul who famously assembled some 75 parcels of land on the East Side into a bundle that eventually became the United Nations. At one point, he owned both the Chrysler Building and the Graybar Building. But when the market stalled in the mid-1960s, his creditors called in their loans and his empire came crashing down. [more]