Louis Wolfson III: Building communities with affordable and workforce housing

Louis Wolfson III is cofounder of Pinnacle, a Miami-based real estate development and construction company that has built over 10,000 units of affordable and workforce housing. His goal is to make beautiful communities that blend perfectly with market rate apartments, incorporating art into each project, to elevate the neighborhoods.

Part of the Wolfson family, which has decades of making charitable contributions through the Wolfson family’s foundation, the Miami Dade College Foundation, his involvement at the college’s Investment Committee, and the Greater Miami Neighborhoods, which he chaired, has allowed him to continue the legacy started by his grandfather, Colonel Mitchell Wolfson, which has contributed over $200 million, he said.

His career started at the family business, Wometco Enterprises, a diverse entertainment conglomerate that included television, cable television, movie theaters, and Coca-Cola bottling. Later he expanded into cable TV, developing The Video Jukebox, an interactive video channel for music videos clips.

He has advised The Miami Foundation, The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, The Miami City Ballet, The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami Jewish Health Systems, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Baptist Hospital, The Education Fund, and the Underline.

His hope is to educate and inspire the next generation of philanthropists.

“For the whole family, art, education, and most importantly passing it on to the next generations is a legacy,” he said. “We don’t want to lose it, we’re going to continue it, and that thinking separates us from most others. Most people are short-term thinkers. We’re trying to think in 50-year periods, Pinnacle included.”

Mr. Wolfson spoke with Miami Today reporter Monica Correa.

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