Sarah Wick began her career in real estate when she moved back to her hometown of Cleveland after completing her undergraduate education. As an emerging professional, she split her time between two organizations both focusing on the built environment — which remains central to her work decades later.
Now a Senior Vice President of Affordable Housing at Related Midwest, the Chicago office of Related Companies, Sarah has been named this year’s recipient of the Graaskamp Center Innovator Award. This annual award honors individuals who exemplify the Wisconsin Real Estate Program’s tradition of excellence and innovation. Recipients inspire others to tackle challenges creatively and turn visionary ideas into reality.
Since joining Related about 12 years ago, Sarah has been deeply involved in the redevelopment of Lathrop Homes, a legacy project with the Chicago Housing Authority. Originally built in 1938 between the Lincoln Park and North Center neighborhoods, Lathrop Homes was one of the first public housing demonstration projects in the U.S., funded by FDR’s New Deal. Spanning 13 acres, the site included 935 public housing units across three walk-up buildings.
2025 Innovator Award Recipient
Sarah Wick
Senior Vice President,
Affordable Housing
Realated Midwest
Lathrop Homes stands out for its transformation over the decades. Initially developed in response to the Great Depression, the project took on new significance in 2010 when Sarah began working on it during one of the most severe economic crises of her lifetime. At the time, the site—located along the Chicago River—was a toxic wasteland. Today, it is a coveted real estate asset, often referred to as Chicago’s “second coast.”
Beyond its physical transformation, Sarah values the project for the opportunity it has given her to deepen her understanding of Chicago’s public housing history.
Although Sarah has spent all of her career working in the real estate industry, her education began as an undergraduate student in the liberal arts, studying history and political science at UW-Madison. Later, she received a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the Pratt Institute.
Her background in the liberal arts gave her the critical thinking, reading, and writing skills she needed to be successful in real estate, along with necessary exposure to a lot of different areas that led her to choose to specialize in one area. And as a former history student, she was always drawn to history that occurred in cities, feeding into her interest in the built environment and why neighborhoods are the way they are.
“I was able to be exposed to a lot of different areas that I don’t know I would have been had I forced myself to focus on one industry,” she said.
One of Sarah’s favorite classes at UW-Madison, a course taught by Craig Werner on the history of Black music in the United States, has intersected with work she’s done in Chicago, she said.
Beyond Chicago, Sarah hopes to see continued resurgence and economic development in neighborhoods in post-industrial cities like Detroit, Milwaukee, and her hometown of Cleveland. The Midwest market for affordable housing is unique in that gentrification and rent increases occur more slowly than in cities like New York, she said.
“I am hopeful that we start to see the kind of economic development that’s needed, but combined with a level of preservation where people don’t feel like they’re being displaced,” she said. Another goal she has for the industry is the simplification of government bureaucracies and politics related to affordable housing, which have made things more expensive and complicated.
For the future of real estate — current students in the field — Sarah shared several pieces of advice. “Remain curious. Be tenacious — you cannot give up. And, to practice analytical skills. It’s about having the vision to do the right thing, and then having the know-how to execute it,” she said.
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