Greg Williamson Breaks New Ground at the Intersection of Real Estate, Live Music and Social Impact
by ELLIMAN INSIDER TEAM
September 2026
Over nearly a decade of building two separate business ventures on two parallel tracks, Greg Williamson was steadfast about keeping a firewall between his work in high-end residential real estate and his work turning high-profile live music events into philanthropic impact. But that all changed this year with a confluence of new projects and some well-earned recognition from his real estate peers that brought those two worlds into perfect harmony.
It started in May, just two months after Williamson marked his tenth year as founder and co-producer of the Love Rocks NYC benefit concert, with the announcement of One Montague Place. The new 50-story, 46-unit residential tower, where the veteran Elliman agent is both a partner and one of the lead sales agents, not only promises to be one of Brooklyn’s loftiest luxury buildings but will also feature an onsite jazz club.
Later that month, at The Hollywood Reporter’s annual New York Power Broker Awards, Williamson received the Philanthropic Impact Award in honor of the $100 million he’s helped to raise through the power of live music via Love Rocks NYC and his other benefit concert series, the Soho Sessions.
Finally, in July, the New York-based development marketing firm Redeavor announced it had tapped Williamson as a marketing partner for the Pendry Residences Nashville in hopes of aligning with his “very unique sphere, tapping into the entertainment industry, cultural and philanthropy.” The condo development will also sponsor a planned Nashville edition of the Soho Sessions.
What might seem like a sudden convergence of parallel worlds was really a long time coming, Williamson says.
“I always instinctually kept a church-state divide between real estate and my music and philanthropy work,” he said. “But all of the relationships and connections I’ve made in these different worlds over the years have started to cross over. It’s all come together in a very natural way — and now it’s firing on all cylinders.”
Bringing It All Together
Early in his real estate career, Williamson began looking for opportunities to channel his success into philanthropy. He and his wife were drawn to the mission of God’s Love We Deliver and became board leaders at the organization. Seeking to deepen his involvement there, he landed on “the crazy idea to build one of the biggest benefit concerts in New York City.”
A lifelong music fan who’d grown up going to live shows from a young age, Williamson had “dabbled in smaller productions” but nothing at the scale he was proposing. Despite caveats from people in the music industry who knew the odds of success were long, he was confident that God’s Love’s cause and reputation would attract both top artists and sponsors. Williamson partnered with Nicole Rechter, a global events producer and family friend, and the fashion designer John Varvatos, to stage the first edition of Love Rocks NYC in March 2017 at the iconic Beacon Theatre, featuring such luminaries as Mavis Staples, Sam Moore, Joe Walsh, Jackson Browne, Bill Murray and Bruce Willis.
As the benefit concert series continued to flourish, Williamson and Rechter, who formed a music promotion venture called RWE Partners, began hosting a semi-regular series of intimate concerts at their 3,500-square-foot, fifth-floor loft space at 241 Centre Street in Soho. Now in its fifth year, the Soho Sessions has presented over 30 invite-only concerts by artists ranging from Paul Simon, Keith Richards and Elvis Costello to Nile Rodgers, Norah Jones, Olivia Dean and Sienna Spiro, with each event spotlighting a different cause. Last November’s session, headlined by Richards, was both an awareness-building event for the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration and a celebration of Bruce Willis, who was diagnosed with the rare brain disorder in 2023.
“The Soho Sessions has become a vital hub for people in the financial, real estate, music and entertainment industries,” Williamson said. “They’re coming there because they're meeting incredible people, they're seeing great music, and they're learning about great causes. And now more than ever, people want to be involved in building community and doing good in this world.”
Apart from the sheer joy of getting to work with so many of his musical heroes to raise money and awareness for important causes, Williamson is especially gratified by the relationships he’s built along the way. Indeed, the Soho Session celebrating Willis grew out of his friendship with the actor/musician and his wife, Emma Heming Willis, dating back to the first Love Rocks NYC concert. That mix of people from different worlds and parts of his life has “developed naturally, over time,” Williamson said, leading to powerful partnerships, client relationships and enduring friendships that nourish one another.
“If I had gone into the music impact world with designs of bringing my brokerage business into it, things would’ve looked a lot different,” he said. “Everything has unfolded just how it should — authentically.”
Top left: Williamson and business partner Nicole Rechter at The Soho Sessions. | Top right: Olivia Dean performing at The Soho Sessions. | Bottom: Williamson on stage at the 10th annual Love Rocks NYC with fellow cofounders Rechter and John Varvatos.
Bringing It All Back Home
For Williamson, a lifelong New Yorker, it’s all the more gratifying that his hometown has played a critical role in this unique nexus of real estate, music and impact. He noted that Love Rocks NYC — which has raised more than $70 million to date and secured Bloomberg Philanthropies as its presenting sponsor for the next five editions — “couldn't be a more New York-centric cause.”
The new development projects in Brooklyn hit even closer to home: Williamson grew up in Brooklyn Heights, where One Montague Place has already broken ground, not far from The Bowen, a forthcoming collection of loft-inspired condos where the agent is also involved in sales and marketing.
“My parents saw the value in Brooklyn Heights in 1970, when they first bought a brownstone there,” he recalled. “I grew up knowing how special it was, so I’ve always believed it’s a world-class neighborhood.”
Brooklyn has been a coveted location for wealthy homebuyers for several years, he noted, with celebrities and hedge-fund managers alike coming to Brooklyn Heights for its privacy, proximity to Manhattan, and understated vibe. But the more recent growth in luxury new development hadn’t yet reached the neighborhood.
“Brooklyn real estate has been thriving for a while, and the demand for high-end luxury at significant price points has only grown,” he said. “There just hasn't been enough supply in Brooklyn Heights. One Montague Place is going to change that in a big way.”
Reflecting on the way everything has aligned in the past year, Williamson clearly sees his home city at the center of it.
"I think the common thread in everything I’ve done is bringing great people together and connecting them to things that can have a real impact on their lives," he said. "Whether it’s through real estate, music or philanthropy, that’s always been what drives me — and New York has been at the center of all of it. I grew up here, I’ve built my career here, and I’ve always believed deeply in this city and the people who make it what it is. New York has been great to me, and there is no other place I would rather be!"
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