Spitzer Stars

Wayne Benjamin’s professional interests include community revitalization, urban design, real estate development, cityplanning, historic preservation, and adaptive reuse. In 18 years as the director of residential development for Harlem Community Development Corporation (HCDC), he advanced affordable homeownership, small business development, and other community and economic revitalization initiatives in Upper Manhattan.

His volunteer service has focused on community revitalization. He has chaired the Land Use Committee of Manhattan Community Board 12 since 2003. Under his leadership, the committee completed, in partnership with the City College Architecture Center (now the J. Max Bond Center for Urban Futures), the only comprehensive community-based land use and neighborhood planning study for Washington Heights and Inwood. The study advanced advocacy for contextual zoning and historic preservation. He received the New York State Senate 2024 Commendation Award from Senator Robert Jackson for his work to preserve the Morris-Jumel Mansion and service to Manhattan Community Board 12.

“The design process is often thought to be fueled by inspiration and creativity, but I learned at Spitzer that it’s nine-tenth perspiration and one-tenth inspiration. I learned to focus on architecture as a problem-solving process: What’s the design issue?  What happens if you take Approach A or Approach B? The emphasis is on thinking through the problem and evaluating the results.”