David Bistricer (born August 10, 1949) is a New York-based real estate developer and the founder and principal of Clipper Equity. His firm focuses on the conversion of non-residential buildings to residential uses.

Early life and education

Bistricer was born in

Brussels, Belgium Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

to an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tra ...

family, the son of Moric and Elsa Bistricer. His mother was a prisoner at the

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...

in Germany during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

while his father hid from the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. In 1951, his family immigrated to New York City when Bistricer was two. In New York, his parents invested in real estate primarily on

West End Avenue West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

and

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

in Manhattan. Bistricer joined the family business in the 1970s. In the 1980s, the Bistricer family was heavily involved in the conversion of rental buildings in New York City into

cooperatives A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, 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 democr ...

. In 1994, they were charged with not disclosing sufficient information to the buyers of the units and in 1998, they were banned from selling co-ops and condos. In 2001, the restriction on the family business was partially lifted and in 2009, it was fully lifted.

Career

In 1987, in his first large transaction, Bistricer partnered with real estate investor Jacob Schwimmer and purchased a four-tower, 960 apartment complex at 101 Wadsworth Avenue in Washington Heights for $11 million. Also in 1987, Bistricer purchased 30% of the Chicago-based electrical wire manufacturer, Coleman Cable (which went public in 2007). In 2002, he expanded into Brooklyn purchasing two

Downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third-largest central business district in New York City (after Midtown Manhattan, Midtown and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. The neighb ...

office buildings for $40 million; and in 2005, he purchased the 27-story New York Telephone Company building in Downtown Brooklyn and converted the building into the 219-unit BellTel Lofts condominiums, one of the first large residential projects in Downtown Brooklyn. In 2005, Bistricer purchased the rent-regulated 59 building Vanderveer Estates Apartments in

East Flatbush East Flatbush is a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. East Flatbush is bounded by Crown Heights and Empire Boulevard to the north; Brownsville and East 98th Street to the east; Flatlands, Canarsie and the Lon ...

for $138.2 million with the intent to renovate them into a collection of spacious rental apartments, since renamed Flatbush Gardens. At the time of purchase, the complex had over 12,000 housing code violations inherited by Bistricer. By 2016, Bistricer spent diligent effort and $20 million in renovations to effectively reduce those violations by over 95%. Currently the complex is 97% occupied and considered a highly desirable place to reside. In 2006, Bistricer founded Clipper Equity. A year later, his bid to purchase for $1.3 billion the rent regulated

Starrett City Starrett City (also known as the Spring Creek Towers) is a housing development in the Spring Creek section of East New York in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is located on a peninsula on the north shore of Jamaica Bay, bounded by Fr ...

complex in East New York failed, partly the result of bad publicity surrounding the Tishman Speyer Properties purchase of

Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village ( ), colloquially known as StuyTown, is a large post-World War II private residential development on the east side of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan. The complex consists of ...

. In 2011, partnering with Joseph Chetrit, he purchased the

Chelsea Hotel The Hotel Chelsea (also known as the Chelsea Hotel and the Chelsea) is a hotel at 222 West 23rd Street (Manhattan), 23rd Street in the Chelsea, Manhattan, Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Built between 1883 and 1884, the hot ...

for $80 million; they sold their interest in 2013. In 2013, Bistricer began the restoration and reconversion to a hotel of the former Hotel Bossert in Downtown Brooklyn and the conversion of the Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan into housing. In 2013, in his largest transaction to date, Bistricer and his partner Joseph Chetrit, purchased the Sony Tower in New York City for $1.1 billion, intending to convert the building into condominiums. They halted the project in 2016 due to fears of an over-supply of luxury housing, instead selling the building for $1.4B to the Olayan Group of Saudi Arabia. Bistricer has a conservative investment methodology and typically minimizes the use of debt with no more than 70 percent debt to equity.

Philanthropy

In 2012, Bistricer donated $70,000 to various nonprofit groups including Yeshiva Simchas Chaim in

Sheepshead Bay Sheepshead, Sheephead, or Sheep's Head, may refer to: Fish * '' Archosargus probatocephalus'', a medium-sized saltwater fish of the Atlantic Ocean * Freshwater drum, ''Aplodinotus grunniens'', a medium-sized freshwater fish of North and Central ...

Personal life

Bistricer lives in Borough Park,

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

with his wife Esther. They have five children. His son J.J. Bistricer is also active in the family business.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bistricer, David American people of Belgian-Jewish descent American businesspeople in real estate Businesspeople from New York City Belgian Jews Belgian emigrants to the United States 1949 births 21st-century American philanthropists Living people Philanthropists from New York (state) People from Borough Park, Brooklyn 21st-century American Jews