“The relationships that you make are what allows you to be successful. Money can come and go, but the kind of friendships and trust that you build through work, and from being honest and hardworking, and being willing to stand behind your product and not hide behind a limit and a warranty or some other technicality really makes a big difference… When you do that for people and you go out of your way, you build a reputation that’s fabulous.”
- David W. “Buzz” Ruttenberg

Mr. Ruttenberg is the President of Lakewest, Inc., Founder of Belgravia Group, Ltd., and a Principal in the law firm of Ruttenberg Gilmartin Reis LLC. To say that he is an industry leader in Chicago real estate would be an understatement. Belgravia Group has delivered over 2,500 homes, leaving their mark in more than 15 Chicago neighborhoods including River North, Bucktown, Streeterville, and the West Loop. Some of their notable developments are Triangle Square Condos, Renelle on the River, Three Sixty West, CA6, CA Washington, 600 Lake Shore Drive, Schiller Place, Belgravia Terrace, and Kensington Park, to name a few.

So how did Buzzy become one of the most influential developers in Chicago? Starting his career as a successful lawyer, his entrepreneurial spirit and independent thinking did not allow him to “be a soldier in someone else’s army”. After two years of practicing law, he remodeled his first single family home with his father in 1967. He soon realized that the notion of taking something old, tired, and unappreciated and making it more interesting and exciting was the driving force in his life; and the rest is history.