Developing commercial real estate for over seven decades.
Wilmorite has been in the construction business since the 1940’s building single-family homes, residential tracts and apartment buildings. Supporting the post-war suburban sprawl, Wilmorite contributed to the development of many outlying neighborhoods.
In the 1950’s, the founders of the company, brothers James P. Wilmot and William F. Wilmot, moved from residential into commercial construction with a series of small projects. In addition to the construction business, both the founders had early backgrounds in the aviation business. Their company, Page Avjet Corporation, grew to one of the nation’s leaders in selling and servicing aircraft. The Wilmot family continued to own Page Avjet Corporation until 1982.
The 1960’s brought massive urbanization throughout the United States and Wilmorite was again a leader in this rebuilding. By reclaiming downtown sites, Wilmorite rebuilt modern high-rise offices, housing, hotels, and public spaces.
During this same period, Wilmorite diversified into the shopping center business by opening Pittsford Plaza, a 530,000 square foot open-air center in a suburb of Rochester, New York. In 1967, Wilmorite acquired Greece Towne Mall, the first enclosed suburban shopping mall in Upstate New York.
Through the 1970’s and 1980’s, Wilmorite opened eight major shopping malls in the Eastern United States. In 1982, Wilmorite built The Marketplace Mall, the company’s first retail project over one million square feet.
In 1980, Thomas C. Wilmot, son of founder James P. Wilmot, became President and CEO. Wilmorite is still a family-run business today, with several generations still holding prominent positions within the company.
Through the late 1980’s and 1990’s, Wilmorite continued to build, acquire and develop shopping centers. By 2005, Wilmorite owned and managed more than thirteen enclosed malls and two open-air strip centers. At the same time, Wilmorite Construction continued to grow, expanding on its already extensive range of experience by developing more than 30,000,000 square feet of retail, office, hotel, apartment, and convention space.
Most recently, Wilmorite has completed student housing, on-campus university buildings, senior housing, retail stores, restaurants, and casino hotel resorts. The Marketplace Mall, has been transformed with one of the first medical-in-malls projects in the United States. The University of Rochester opened their new orthopedics center in 2023, driving new traffic to the center and generating new demand.
Wilmorite continues to manage shopping centers and has multiple development projects in process across diverse platforms in multiple states. Wilmorite remains a leading real estate management company, developer, builder, and construction manager committed to improving living, work and entertainment environments for the future.
