“I can’t lose sight of the fact that I’m a third-generation Harlemite whose father was baptized by Adam Clayton Powell [and] used to take me to hear Malcolm X on the corner.”
Meet 2023 Labor Breakfast honoree William Wallace IV. He’s served as senior finance and acquisitions officer for New York- and Miami-based real estate developer Continuum Company since 2013. His work centers around economic development, which is best seen in his involvement with building up mixed-income housing in downtown Brooklyn. Previously, he worked as an executive at Forest City Ratner.
Wallace’s work includes obtaining pre-development resources for building projects, including land, leasing, and finance. With such responsibilities, Wallace can push for more union labor involvement and middle-class housing incentives.
Well aware of the correlation between cranes and gentrification, Wallace sees his work as an
opportunity to dispel the conflation between displacement and new developments. He maintains that when buildings get old, they fall out of code. There’s a housing shortage. He points to rent, not construction, as the source of problems.
Before entering his current field, Wallace—whose father is a judge—went to law school and served as a court clerk in Brooklyn, but he felt his skills were better applied to economic development.
Most importantly, he’s a proud third-generation Harlemite. He is also an alumnus of Brooklyn College, Rutgers University, and Stuyvesant High School—not necessarily in that order!