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This month it was my pleasure to catch up with Blair Williams, the owner of WIRED Properties, a real estate development company Blair opened in 2005. We met at Alterra, housed within one of WIRED’s developments, The Cornerstone, where I learned more about Blair’s background, his take on real estate development and other unknown facts of interest!

Blair grew up in Whitefish Bay and attended college at UW Madison where he earned his Master’s in Real Estate & Urban Land Use Economics, a Law degree and an M.B.A. (I told him he was a little over achiever and he laughed!). He is very committed to his community and has stuck to his roots in Milwaukee. His developments in Shorewood are in the neighborhood in which he grew up and he lives on the east side. Blair is a family man; married with two small children ages 2 and 4.

Blair explained that he chose real estate for a vocation due to his fascination with ways of engagement and how real estate affects the surrounding community. “Humans are inherently social,” he said. “All interactions are shaped by the world around us. Real estate is about context; how do you craft real estate to add value to the quality of our interactions?” Aside from desiring financial returns from his developments he also requires his projects have social returns as well.” “Value has to be brought to the community.” he stated, “people touch real estate every day and there are many emotional overtones and undertones involved.”

Assisting with building vibrant communities is a common thread throughout all of his projects. His mixed-use developments, The Cornerstone and Ravenna are prime examples. Both developments place their residents within walking distance of local shops, restaurants and places of worship which provide them with new opportunities for social interactions and connections.

With our current economy in a state of flux Blair told me that his biggest challenge in today’s environment is to only do good deals. “The pressure today is to go faster,” he explained, “interest rates are uncertain which creates the urge to go quickly, but one needs patience to know when it is ready and ripe.” “Development is a combination of science and art; a paradox. How do you strike the right balance? You don’t always want the coin sitting on the edge,” he said, “sometimes you want it face up.”

His advice to new people entering the real estate development field is, “concentrate on fundamentals and make sure you don’t lose sight of the underlying social and financial dynamics.” “Think hard about if speed is better and be a sponge.”

On the lighter side: An interesting bit of trivia regarding the Ravenna is the address number of 4523. The Ravenna is a new development and therefore Blair was provided with option of choosing the number of the address within a given range. He choose 4523 as it is the same as the house number he had growing up as a kid on Murray Avenue two blocks away.

To veer a bit to the romantic, Blair met his future wife while she was visiting the Madison area during his college years. She was attending school in Ohio and therefore they had to transverse a long distance romance for a few years until graduation. As Blair tells it he had been struggling with the long distance aspect of the relationship until she met up with him on a mountain in Utah for a Christmas ski trip, “that pretty much sealed the deal,” he said and then grinned stating that “my wife is a red head and wasn’t going to give up regardless of the distance!”

Fun Facts: Blair’s favorite pastime in the winter is skiing with his family and yes even his 2 and 4 year olds are learning the slopes! Another place one may spot Blair is when he is doing what he calls, driving neighborhoods, and viewing existing patterns of human settlement. “Sometimes there are outliers,” he advised, “where it has been done differently and that’s fun.” Additionally Blair is an avid reader and plays golf with his Dad as often as possible. “It is the best thing in the world and we easily play 30 rounds each summer!” he exclaimed.

WIRED Properties can be contacted by calling their office at, 414-375-0244 or visit their website at, www.wiredproperties.com

By Kris A. Nelsen