Brooklyn, NY – Williamsburg Real Estate Developer Turns $1 Million Investment Into $150 Million

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    Brooklyn, NY – Abe Goldstein, a real estate developer from Williamsburg, Brooklyn managed to turn an initial $1 million property investment into $150 million with patience and a little bit of luck.

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    In a phone interview with the real estate magazine, The Real Deal (http://bit.ly/VgUZ4V), Goldstein said he decided to hold on to his family-owned building in Soho at the corner of Spring Street and Broadway even during the real estate boom because he was confident the value of the property would increase over time. “We really felt the building would go up in price,” Goldstein said. Early offers on the building started at $85 million.

    The building at 529 Broadway was originally purchased by Goldstein’s father, Zoltan, around 1980. The Goldsteins set up their family wholesale and retail hosiery store in one part of the building, and rented out the rest of the property to tenants. When Goldstein’s family closed the business in 1990, they retained their commercial tenants and opted not to sell the building.

    Beginning in 2005, Jeff Sutton, a wealthy retail owner with property investments worth close to $2 billion, sought to net lease the building from Zoltan, but to no avail. Later, other retailers like Zara, Microsoft, Michael Kors, Nike and Adidas contacted Abe Goldstein about leasing the building, but he, too, refused to budge.

    Last December, after much persistence on the part of Sutton, Goldstein sold the building to him for a record-setting $150 million for a property in Soho. The building has approximately 43,888 square feet of developmental rights. Records show that the sale price yields a staggering figure of $3,418 per developable foot.

    Goldstein said the key to the successful sale was skipping the contract and immediately heading to closing. “There are so many contracts made in New York City, and until the closing, it takes this and that, and there are a lot of fights. I wanted to sleep at night. Let’s go straight to closing,” Goldstein said. “It was my idea and it worked.” Goldstein also avoided paying higher capital gains taxes by closing before the end of 2012.

    After some haggling, the new owners agreed to Goldstein’s terms. They have decided to demolish the existing building and develop a new two- to five-story structure, depending on the needs of its future tenants. Sutton and his crew are looking to rent the premises to some of the retail giants who initially wanted to lease the building, and plan to charge between $1,200 and $1,500 per square foot.


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    17 Comments
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    ShmutzVesh
    ShmutzVesh
    11 years ago

    Beautiful!!! Kol Hakavod!!

    Boochie
    Boochie
    11 years ago

    wow – good for him

    thegreatone
    thegreatone
    11 years ago

    A wonderful family father mother and their children.Just so you should know some of you modern orthodox,they are real chasidisha people.Lets all wish them lots of mazel and Hatzlacha.And don’t forget from me to throw me in some dough.

    EmesMeieretz
    EmesMeieretz
    11 years ago

    B”h real heimishe Satmer chasidim of williamsburg

    shredready
    shredready
    11 years ago

    nice story good luck to him

    TexasJew
    TexasJew
    11 years ago

    The first million is always the hardest. Kol Hakovod to him and his family.
    Hope all the shnorers don’t read this article.

    HAPPY12
    HAPPY12
    11 years ago

    Soho is not in Williamsburg. Wrong title

    BaalMussar
    BaalMussar
    11 years ago

    A little patience and a lotta luck.
    Mazel Tov

    family_guy
    family_guy
    11 years ago

    Was Abe Goldstein an only child? It says that the building was originally purchased by his father. I don’t understand how Abe got the entire building for himself. I hope Mr. Goldstein will share the proceeds with his siblings, if he has any.
    Too many Jewish families have been destroyed by parents that don’t properly distribute their assets to their kids.

    YidelfromBP
    YidelfromBP
    11 years ago

    I’m very curious can anyone write how much was the taxes on the capital gains?

    takeittothem
    takeittothem
    11 years ago

    Of mir gezukt

    goldstar
    goldstar
    11 years ago

    Korech was also so rich…………………………eveything is money………………….

    yiddishkind
    yiddishkind
    11 years ago

    The imfarginners are out