HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – Ed Wulfe, a prominent force in Houston shopping center business and a civic leader, died Sunday. He was 85.
In a career spanning almost 60 years, Wulfe, chairman and chief executive officer of Wulfe & Co., engineered a redevelopment of the 1 million square-foot Meyerland Plaza in southwest Houston and redeveloped Gulfgate Shopping Center on the Gulf Freeway. His firm also developed the BLVD Place mixed-use project, which is anchored by Whole Foods, on Post Oak Boulevard.
Wulfe chaired a city-wide referendum campaign to expand Houston’s light rail and transit systems.
“Not only was he a real estate legend, he was also a civic leader who chaired the Houston Symphony, the Holocaust Museum Houston and the Urban Land Institutes’ Houston District Council,” said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. “We will remember Mr. Wulfe as a titan whose vision and energy helped Houston evolve. I will miss his friendship and wise counsel. We send our deepest condolences to his wife Lorraine and their six children and ten grandchildren.”
A graduate of Texas A&M University, Wulfe began his career as a mechanical engineer and made his move into real estate in 1960.
He spent seventeen years at Weingarten Realty where he rose to Executive Vice President and a member of its Board of Directors. In 1985, he launched Wulfe & Co., a commercial real estate brokerage and development firm. During his real estate career, he has been involved in all aspects of the development and operation of shopping centers and commercial properties, including serving as a Vice President and a Board member of the International Council of Shopping Centers.
“Ed was intimately involved in countless real estate projects and has left behind a legacy of many notable developments that include Meyerland Plaza, Gulfgate Center and BLVD Place. All of these projects are award winning and nationally recognized developments. Each project had its own individual characteristics and qualities, however, there was a common thread among the three. In their own unique way, each project had a significant positive impact on the surrounding area, which was extremely important to Ed,” said Bob Sellingsloh, president of Wulfe & Co.
“In addition, Ed was passionate about what he called his dual careers, commercial real estate and an endless list of civic causes. Professionally, he was creative, a visionary, fiercely competitive and incredibly optimistic. On the personal side, he had a great sense of humor and a huge heart which is why many of the employees of Wulfe & Co. have worked for the firm for decades. Ed was a remarkable man and truly a one-of-a-kind,” Sellingsloh said in a statement.
