LeFrak, Stern top list of city’s real estate billionaires

Top row, from left: Stephen Ross, Leonard Stern, Richard LeFrak. Bottom row, from left: Donald Trump, Steven Ross, Mort Zuckerman.

With a net worth of $22 billion, David Koch, executive vice president of consumer products conglomerate Koch Industries, is the richest man in New York, beating out the $18.1 billion Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who’s runner-up for that title, and the $16 billion hedge fund king John Paulson, in third. But according to Forbes’ 2011 list of the world’s billionaires, New York is home to a whopping 68 individuals with net worths in the 10- and 11-digit range, and naturally, many of them made their fortunes in New York City real estate (see The Real Deal’s November 2010 cover story, “Billionaire’s real estate club”). Richard LeFrak and his family are the wealthiest of the strictly real estate bigwigs. He‘s worth an estimated $4.3 billion and is the 247th-richest man in the world. Leonard Stern is next among the real estate crowd, with $3.5 billion and 310th-place world ranking. Also on the list are Related Companies head honcho Stephen Ross, who is worth $3.1 billion, Donald Trump, who’s got $2.7 billion in his coffers, and Boston Properties chairman Mort Zuckerman, whose real estate and media empire has rendered him a $2.1 billion man. Meanwhile, supermarket titan John Catsimatidis and Tishman Speyer CEO Jerry Speyer are equally wealthy with $1.8 billion each, Leon Charney’s got $1.3 billion, Sheldon Solow is worth $1.2 billion and Vornado’s Steven Roth is worth $1.1 billion. There are only two female billionaires in New York, and they’re sister-in-laws. Wilma and Joan Tisch, of the Loews empire, are worth $1.5 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively. TRD