Though hardly a household name, this heavy-hitting zoning guru has repped some of the biggest real estate developers on some of Chicago’s most transformative projects in recent years, including counseling the Cubs on the Wrigley Field rebuild and winning approval for the Ryerson steel redevelopment in Pullman. When the mayor plucked Reifman in September for this key City Hall job, developers clinked their shovels in a toast.

Reifman inherited a system with immense amounts of red tape. But practically overnight, insiders say, he has cut it back substantially. Next on his to-do list: jump-starting rehabs of the empty Old Main Post Office and the Finkl steel plant.