William Lie Zeckendorf carries the torch, along with his brother Arthur, for the third generation of his family's real estate empire in New York as co-chairman of Zeckendorf Development.

That empire includes the Zeckendorf Towers in Union Square, the 515 Park Avenue condo and Worldwide Plaza in Midtown. The brothers grandfather, William Zeckendorf Sr., was probably the archetypal New York real estate mogul, complete with car phone. He sold the United Nations the East Side parcel on which its headquarters was built, and at one time controlled the Chrysler Building, Chase Manhattan Plaza and the Astor Hotel.

The brothers Zeckendorf picked up where their grandfather and father, William Zeckendorf Jr., left off, expanding the firm to include the development of 15 Central Park West, a 202-unit luxury condo that sold out in less than two years last decade, netting the brothers and their partners $1.8 billion. It was at the time the most lucrative condo in New York City history. Zeckendorf also developed the luxury condo at 18 Gramercy Park. (William Zeckendorf Jr. died in 2014.)

William Lie Zeckendorf is also an owner and the co-chairman of Terra Holdings, the corporate parent of luxury residential brokerage Brown Harris Stevens.