New York's Wealthiest Real Estate Moguls
New York has more billionaires than any other city on the planet. We combed the Forbes 400 and picked out the wealthiest NY real estate moguls. Write down your guesses, then see how many you already know. Here are the top 6.
Stephen Schwarzman is CEO of private equity firm Blackstone Group, which is marketing a new global real estate fund and recently sold several investments, including IndCor Properties to Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund and the Waldorf Astoria (owned by Blackstone subsidiary Hilton Worldwide Holdings) to a Chinese insurance company. You can see Schwarzman (sort of) every time you go to the NY Public Libary's "main branch" on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. No, he's not one of the lions at the door, but his name is on the building.
Related Cos chairman Stephen Ross is juggling projects in two of NY's hottest areas: Hudson Yards (where Time Warner and Coach will be major tenants) and Long Island City (where Related is nearing completion of Hunter's Point South, the largest affordable housing complex built in NYC since the '70s). The Hunter's Point South housing lottery ended this past Monday. To support affordable housing, he has come out in favor of a mansion tax. Stephen also owns the Miami Dolphins. His alma mater, University of Michigan, has renamed the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, and he's chairing the school's $4B capital campaign.
Richard Lefrak is head of the eponymous firm his family founded in 1901, now one of the area's biggest landlords. In 1986, Lefrak's father had a vision for an old railyard and warehouses across the Hudson River, which has become one of the most successful residential areas--Newport, Jersey City. The family's also known for LeFrak City, the 20-building, 40-acre housing complex in Corona, Queens, and has holdings in LA, Miami, San Francisco, and Washington State. In 2012, he donated $10M to provide free Museum of Natural History visits for NYC schoolchildren.
Hartz Group CEO Leonard Stern (pictured with sons Emanuel and Edward at the 2014 opening of Estuary) owns more than 38M SF in New Jersey and New York. Amazingly, it all began in 1926 when his father, Max, arrived in America with nothing but 5,000 canaries. (He quickly sold them to Wanamaker's Department Store.) In February 2014, Hartz opened the 582-unit Estuary in Weehawken, NJ, its most luxurious ground-up multifamily rental project to date (think: billiard and yoga rooms, media lounge, golf simulator, cold storage). Its other high-end high-rise residential properties include The Whitley in Austin, the Alto in Seattle, One Superior Place in Chicago, and the newly rebranded La Rochelle in New Rochelle, NY. The company's residential holdings are nearly 3,300 units with 1,400 in the planning stages in New Jersey. Active in Jewish causes, Leonard helped publish a book, A Convenient Hatred: The History of Anti-Semitism, and he's given $30M to NYU, whose business school bears his name.
Pictured here with DC Mayor-elect Muriel Bowser, Donald Trump's NY trophy's include 40 Wall Street and Trump Tower, and don't forget his Doral golf resort in Miami. Daughter Ivanka says the Trump Hotel Collection would like to own 30 hotels by 2020 (it’s got 12 now, including properties in Rio and Vancouver, opening in 2016). In July, Trump broke ground on the new Trump Hotel at the Old Post Office Pavilion in Washington, DC. (Every major luxury hotel group bid on the project.) Says Donald: “I promise this will be a truly great hotel for DC and the nation.” Average room size will be a whopping 600 SF, with completion expected in 2016.
Tishman Speyer co-CEO Jerry Speyer is just a few dollars behind Donald Trump, so we're giving him a mention as well. According to Forbes: He owns or controls landmarks like Rockefeller Center and the Chrysler Building "and also built skyscrapers in Berlin, London, Frankfurt, Paris and Sao Paolo." He's also chairman of MoMA. Click here to see him light up the Rockefeller Tree with his co-CEO (and son) Rob.
