Will Blodgett is the Founder and CEO of Tredway, an affordable and mixed-income real estate developer focused on building and preserving high-quality rental homes in high-opportunity urban areas. As a person who speaks with a stutter, Will is a lifelong champion of the underdog and advocate for his community. He sits on the board of the American Institute for Stuttering and has been recognized for his contributions to empowering young people who stutter and their families.
Early Life
As a product of the American dream, Will believes that upward socioeconomic mobility begins with a home. A first-generation American on his mother’s side, Will grew up in a modest home in Chicago as the eldest of four children. As a child, he was bullied for having a stutter which led to an adolescence filled with fights and misdirected anger, until this father, worried for his son’s future, moved the family to Southern California. After nearly failing out of high school, a teacher recommended Will try out for the football team, a move that boosted his confidence and academic performance. Will completed a postgraduate year at Deerfield Academy, as a scholarship student, and went on to earn a scholarship to Yale University.
Education
At Yale, Will earned varsity letters as a wide receiver on the football team and also participated in club hockey and basketball. To help pay for school, he held various odd jobs including working in Yale's gym facility office and as a groundskeeper.
After college, Will went to work in the public sector before going to business school at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. At MIT, headed the school’s real estate club and ran the renowned Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. It was at MIT that Will first began to think about how to translate his values and passion for data into a business that solves real-world problems.
Career
Will got his start in real estate at The Related Companies and served as a Special Advisor to the New York Housing Authority before deciding to start his own firm with a co-partner in 2014. Will named the firm “Fairstead” after the office and home of renowned planner and architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Prospect and Central Parks, along with Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. Over Will’s eight-year tenure, he grew Fairstead into one of the largest multifamily owners in the country, with a portfolio spanning 18 states.
A lifelong entrepreneur, Will founded Tredway in 2021 with the goal of breathing fresh air into the affordable housing industry and establishing a company where empathy is the guiding principle. At 41 years old, Will represents a new generation of visionaries capable of bringing renewed energy and bold ideas to the challenge of solving the nation’s affordability crisis. Will was named “Innovator of the Year” by the Commercial Observer in 2020, appeared on City & State’s “Real Estate Power 100,” and was dubbed a “Notable in Real Estate” by Crain’s New York Business.
