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People

Neil Bluhm

Neil G. Bluhm is a real estate investor and developer whose career links JMB Realty, Walton Street Capital and Rush Street Gaming. After beginning as a lawyer, he co-founded JMB and built a portfolio spanning urban retail, hotels, offices and residential projects; he later co-founded a private equity real estate firm and a casino operator.

Updated

Known For

  • Co-founding JMB Realty and helping build it into one of the largest U.S. property owners and developers.
  • Developing mixed-use projects such as Copley Place, Century City and 900 North Michigan.
  • Co-founding Walton Street Capital in 1994 and Rush Street Gaming, extending his work into private real estate investment and gaming.

Career and Focus

Bluhm began his career as an attorney at Mayer, Brown & Platt, where he became a partner. He then co-founded JMB Realty and served as its president from 1968. JMB assembled a broad commercial property business spanning shopping centers, hotels, office towers and residential projects. Its mixed-use developments combined those uses in single destinations; examples cited in corporate biographies include Copley Place in Boston, Century City in Los Angeles and 900 North Michigan in Chicago.

In 1994, Bluhm co-founded Walton Street Capital, a private equity real estate firm. Its investment activities include property equity and debt strategies, distinct from JMB’s historical operating and development platform. Bluhm also co-founded Rush Street Gaming and has served as its managing member since 2009. That gaming business operates alongside, rather than within, his real estate investment work. His long civic and philanthropic service includes Northwestern University and the Art Institute of Chicago. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois and a JD from Northwestern University School of Law. These combined roles make Bluhm a prominent example of the crossover between institutional real estate development, private equity and gaming-entertainment assets.

Related Pages

  • Investor People Hub
  • National Investor Benchmarks Hub
  • Walton Street Capital
  • Source: Top 200 Global CRE People and Families

Sources