Ian Bruce Eichner (born June 25, 1945)The RealDeal: "Bruce Eichner" by Lauren Elkies
retrieved May 26, 2015 is an American real estate developer and founder of The Continuum Company, LLC.

Biography

Eichner was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in New York City.CUNY TV: "Ian Bruce Eichner Founder & Chairman, Continuum Company"
October 29, 2013 His father went to fight in World War II and abandoned the family thereafter. His stepfather, Herman Eichner, was an Austrian immigrant and professor. He went to Stuyvesant High School and worked for

Republic Steel Republic Steel is an American steel manufacturer that was once the country's third largest steel producer. It was founded as the Republic Iron and Steel Company in Youngstown, Ohio in 1899. After rising to prominence during the early 20th Centu ...

while in high school and

Sears Roebuck Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

while in college. In 1962, he attended the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

for a year and the graduated from the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 18 ...

with a B.A. in history and then with a J.D. from the

University of Cincinnati College of Law The University of Cincinnati College of Law was founded in 1833 as the Cincinnati Law School. It is the fourth oldest continuously running law school in the United States — after Harvard, the University of Virginia, and Yale — and the first in ...

in 1969.New York Times: "Commercial Property/The Ian Bruce Eichner Phenomenon; A Deal-Maker's Comeback" By CLAUDIA H. DEUTSCH
May 15, 1994 He then took a job with the office of district attorney

Frank Hogan Frank Smithwick Hogan (January 17, 1902 – April 2, 1974) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. He served as New York County District Attorney for more than 30 years, during which he achieved a reputation for professionalism and ...

and then as an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn with Eugene Gold. In 1969, he purchased a building in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Using the proceeds from the sale of his first building, he started buying apartment buildings in

Park Slope Park Slope is a neighborhood in northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park and Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush A ...

and converting them into

cooperatives A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

. From 1971 to 1975, he worked for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice services. He purchased the Franklin Arms in

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south, ...

which he profited $1 million and lost it all after purchasing the Margaret Hotel in Brooklyn Heights which burned to the ground after a construction accident. He ultimately built a new building on the site and made his money back. A mentor of his, Ron Altman, introduced him to Victor Smorgon of Melbourne, Australia who invested $4 million to build a high rise. He had several novel ideas in the buildings he built thereafter: he built buildings with the smallest units on the lower floors and the larger units on the taller floors; and he built the lobbies first (as people want to see the lobby before they move in); and he would build model apartments on the higher floors (with their spectacular views). Smorgon's investment was profitable and Eichner went on to build

Cityspire CitySpire (also known as CitySpire Center) is a mixed-use skyscraper at 150 West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Completed in 1990 and designed by Murphy/Jahn Architects, the building ...

, 1540 Broadway, 180 Montague in Brooklyn Heights (later sold to Charles E. Smith's Archstone), and the Continuum on South Beach in Miami Beach. The 1990s were difficult and Eichner lost Cityspire to the

Bank of Nova Scotia The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...

, 1540 Broadway to a bankruptcy and ultimately to Bertelsmann A.G. as its headquarters, and the

Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas (commonly referred to simply as The Cosmopolitan or The Cosmo) is a resort casino and hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The resort opened on December 15, 2010, and is located just south of the B ...

, a $4 billion project, to

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

after he was unable to refinance a loan (it was ultimately completed and sold it to the

Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate bu ...

.Wall Street Journal: "Eichner Lands $420 Million to Build NYC Condo For Super-Rich" by Elliot Brown
October 6, 2014 He developed 45 East 22nd Street, a 777 feet tall, 64 story tower in the

Flatiron District The Flatiron District is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, named after the Flatiron Building at 23rd Street, Broadway and Fifth Avenue. Generally, the Flatiron District is bounded by 14th Street, Union Square and Gre ...

of Manhattan. Eichner also developed a 32 story tower in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

, which will be the neighborhood's tallest building, and is proposing to construct four high-rise apartment complexes in

Crown Heights, Brooklyn Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Crown Heights is bounded by Washington Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue to the north, Ralph Avenue to the east, and Empire Boulevard/East New Yo ...

. The latter development has notably gained criticism from

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) is a botanical garden in the borough of Brooklyn, New York City. It was founded in 1910 using land from Mount Prospect Park in central Brooklyn, adjacent to Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Museum. The garden holds ...

President Scot Medbury for the impacts that the high rises could have on the direct sun light of the gardens.The Indypendent: "Highrises Could Cast Shadow Over Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Warns Garden President" by Indypendent Staff
May 24, 2018

Manhattan Club settlement

In 2017, New York District Attorney announced a settlement with Eichner over his misleading claims and false promises related to the Manhattan Club timeshare. Eichner and his associates offered a "boutique hotel" but many customers were never able to book rooms, faced rapidly rising maintenance costs, and were foreclosed if they were unable to pay, leading others to sell their shares for $1. Eichner and associates were required to pay $6.5 million as part of the settlement and were barred from the timeshare industry.

Personal life

He is married to Leslie Ann (née Hollander) Eichner and has two daughters, Alexandra and Lindsay. He has homes in

East Hampton, New York The Town of East Hampton is located in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, at the eastern end of the South Shore of Long Island. It is the easternmost town in the state of New York. At the time of the 2020 United States census, it had a tot ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, and South Beach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eichner, Ian Bruce 1946 births American real estate businesspeople Businesspeople from New York City University at Buffalo alumni 20th-century American Jews University of Cincinnati College of Law alumni Living people 21st-century American Jews