Who

Best known as the co-developer of the Time Warner Center, property scion Bill Mack heads the firm Apollo Real Estate Advisors. He's also the chair of the real estate investment trust Mack-Cali Realty.

Backstory

Mack is a third generation real estate developer: His grandfather first started purchasing land at the turn of the 20th century. Bill grew up in New York, attended Penn, and went on to earn an MBA from Wharton. Following a stint in the Air Force, he started his career at the industrial leasing broker Robert Joseph and Co., joining the family biz soon after. During the 1960s, Mack began developing properties—his first acquisition was a five-and-a-half acre parcel just off the New Jersey entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. After constructing one-story industrial warehouses in North Bergen, he branched into commercial properties in the '70s and '80s, accumulating millions of square feet of office space with his brothers Earle, Fred, and David. By the mid-'90s, Mack had turned the firm into one of the biggest owners of suburban office space in the New York area; in 1997, he merged his family's development company with rival New Jersey-based landowner Cali Realty, forming the publicly-traded REIT Mack-Cali. He also teamed up with financier Leon Black in the 1990s to found Apollo Real Estate Advisors.

Of note

Mack wears two hats. As chairman of Mack-Cali, he controls upwards of $7 billion worth of Class A office space—some 36 million square-feet—concentrated in suburban corridors of New York and New Jersey. In partnership with Apollo, Mack has presided over $7 billion in real estate investments around the globe, typically partnering with local firms to finance and co-develop projects. The biggest project Apollo has been involved with to date is the Time Warner Center, which it developed in conjunction with Related's Stephen Ross. Ongoing developments of note include a $1.2 billion revitalization of a warehouse district in northeast D.C. called New Town at Capital City Market, and a $470 million mixed-use development in the Long Island city of Riverhead.

Campaign trail

Mack has long been a major contributor to the Republican party in the tri-state area, and was particularly close with George Pataki when he was governor. His political connections, however, have led to some questionable dealings over the years. In 1999, Mack held a lavish fundraiser for then-Connecticut governor John Rowland, who was implicated in a corruption scandal just two weeks after Rowland had invested $75 million of the state's money in Apollo Real Estate. In 2006, critics alleged that Pataki improperly forced the Harlem Community Development Organization to award the contract to Mack to redevelop the Victoria Theater.

Board game

No genuine New York real estate tycoon could go without a collection of artistic and philanthropic interests and Mack is no exception. Since 2004, he's been the chairman of the Guggenheim, sitting alongside other board members like Peter Brant, Dave Ganek, Howard Lutnick, and sometime partner Stephen Ross. He's also the vice chair of the board of the University of Pennsylvania; other trustees include Leonard Lauder, William Lauder, Ron Perelman, Richard Perry and Henry Silverman.

Personal

Mack's wife is Phyllis Mack; she's active in Jewish causes and sits on the board of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and the Jewish Museum in New York. The couple has two grown sons, Richard and Stephen. Richard is a partner at Apollo; Stephen's wife, Kelly Mack, is the president of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group, which is handling sales for a number of Apollo developments, including 10 West End Avenue. In June 2008, the Macks closed on two adjacent apartments at 550 Park, which they plan to combine into one unit. Until then, they'll continue living at 76o Park—the same building as Bill's Apollo partner Leon Black.