After putting himself through CUNY’s Queens College at night, Uri Kaufman attended New York University School of Law and graduated with honors in 1989. Kaufman subsequently became a real estate developer, specializing in adaptively restoring historic buildings, winning awards at the national and state level. His Harmony Mills project appears on the homepage of the New York State Historic Preservation Office’s website, hailed by officials as perhaps the finest example of restoring New York’s rich architectural heritage.