In 1999, Martin Nussbaum was working at Long Island Jewish Hospital. The eldest son of Jewish parents — his dad was a cantor — Nussbaum, who’d grown up mostly in New Jersey, had done pre-med in college.
But in the hospital, he saw medicine up close and personal. It was God’s work, he says, but he realized it wasn’t the path for him.
Nussbaum pivoted to become an investment banking analyst, eventually finding his way into real estate, first working for Wells Hills Partners and Atlantic Realty Development Corporation. He co-founded Silverstone Property Group in 2009.
He then founded Slate Property Group with David Schwartz in 2013 as a venture to build and buy multifamily. The company has grown beyond that and is currently developing 4,000 units. It has built or bought market-rate, affordable and even homeless shelters, plus a recently added credit business.
In the process, Slate has vertically integrated its model, working both as developer and financier for multifamily and condo projects across the price spectrum, using both debt and equity. Slate has built more than 8,500 apartment units and completed more than $9 billion in total transactions.
Slate has been active in the past year, working on the Stewart Hotel resi conversion, a ground-up multifamily building across from the Empire State Building, and a medical office and community facility for Mount Sinai Hospital. Mets owner Steve Cohen picked Slate to develop 450 affordable units as part of Cohen’s casino-driven development.
Nussbaum seems to slide as easily between generations as he does between business lines. “I turned 50 and don’t feel that old,” he said, adding that he’s as happy at a bar with his 21-year-old twins as at the park with his 20-month-old toddler.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Born: December 24, 1975
Hometown: Cranford, New Jersey
Lives: Upper East Side
Family: Wife and six kids
“You’re here in the back seat with someone else sort of running the transaction and you’re cheering them on.”
Do you consider Johannesburg your hometown?
No, I moved to America when I was about 2 or 3. So I really grew up in the U.S. But I went back to South Africa — our family would go every summer to visit the rest of our family.
You said you liked growing up in Cranford, New Jersey. What was it like growing up there?
It was just a really cute, safe town. I grew up playing a lot of sports. I had good friends. But now I haven’t been back in probably 15 years, because my family has all moved other places.
What did you play?
I played a lot of soccer, a lot of basketball, tennis.
What was your position?
In basketball, a point guard. And in soccer, center mid.
Do you hold onto the point guard mentality?
I really do. You’re the one running the team and you’re the ones who are executing the plays on behalf of the team. You’re distributing the ball, setting other people up to be successful.
Do you play sports now?
I stopped playing real sports because I’m too old. I can’t get injured. I now play a lot of tennis and padel for my new sports.
Do you play padel with a lot of work people?
Yes, a lot of real estate guys.
Would you give that as advice to a new person in real estate, to play padel?
[laughing] Yes, 100%, you should definitely play padel. Tennis used to be the sport, you could meet a lot of people in real estate playing tennis. Now padel for sure seems in the last year to be sort of more social and more networky.
You said you went to the Jersey shore growing up?
We would spend a couple weeks every year going to Long Beach Island growing up, which I remember really fondly. It was really, really fun.
We would wake up in the morning and walk to the beach and that’s where you spent two weeks. I spent five or six hours every day in the water.
You went to SUNY Albany. What was your impression of the school?
My family had moved from New Jersey to New York my senior year of high school. So that’s how I landed in the SUNY system.
I think the most ironic part of college is I was pre-med all through college. And my parents were really excited for me to be a doctor, I was going to be the doctor of the family. Then when I graduated college, I decided to take a year off before I went to medical school. And that’s where I shifted my career. My parents were not thrilled about that decision.
What did your parents do?
My father was a cantor. So we’d go to temple every weekend and he’d be the one singing all the prayers. And he ran the Hebrew school for the synagogue. My mother was, for the most part, a stay-at-home mother. And then as she got older, she was working for a doctor and doing medical billing for the last 20 years.
Are there parts of pre-med training you feel like you take with you?
No. I actually don’t think I remember any of it. I think I’ve blocked it out. I’ve never been able to really use my medical knowledge for anything now, other than knowing when the appropriate time to give Tylenol to my kid is.
A couple of years ago you said that one thing you took from your education is that you never missed a deadline. Is that still true?
Yes. I’m very, very organized. Everything has a spot for it. I’m very schedule oriented — I live and breathe by that schedule. I think at the end of the day, you’re only as good as your word to business colleagues.
What’s been so far your biggest professional achievement?
We’ve built a business that has sustainability across all environments. When we started, we were going to build market-rate apartments and buy existing market-rate buildings. As we sort of grew the business and it got more footing, we grew out different verticals. So we have an affordable business now. We have a market-rate development business. We have a credit business. We’ve built out a vertically integrated business where we self-manage our properties, we self-construct, we have our own GC.
What’s it been like being on the other side, as a lender instead of a developer?
I find it fascinating because you’re seeing everyone else’s thought process, creativity. And we’ve learned a lot. That business is spread up and down the East Coast. It’s allowed us to sort of expand our knowledge within different markets.
When you’re the developer, every problem is yours. And when you’re the lender, you’re just really supportive. We’re collaborative and we’re helpful and truth is nine times out of 10, we’ve seen the problem that they’re dealing with, so we’re super helpful. But it’s a different seat to be in, you’re here in the back seat with someone else sort of running the transaction and you’re cheering them on.
You have some small luxury buildings. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
We did a really interesting project called The Katherine in the West Village that recently sold out. It’s exciting for us. We’re doing a lot more equity transactions similar to that. I think we’re starting to replicate that business model. So we’ve actually closed out two new deals, similar size, similar concept, to do really bespoke, boutique-y condo projects in what we would consider prime markets of New York.
What’s the perk of something that’s really small scale?
When you think about the buyer of a condo unit, particularly in the high-end world, a lot of them like to be in smaller buildings that are more boutique-y, that don’t have 200 units where they’re interfacing with 200 other families every day. I think one of the things that worked so well with The Katherine was the end buyers knew they had privacy and exclusivity.
The negatives are sometimes you can’t generate the kind of amenities that you would in a much larger building. We do a smaller version of that in our buildings that check the box for certain types of buyers. But those buyers also, frankly, often are not necessarily going to a gym, they’re going to different kinds of places.
Say more about “privacy and exclusivity.”
Yeah, think about what’s happening in New York City with clubs, right? Why are there 100 [private] clubs opening every day?
I think in New York, the concept of having an exclusive place that feels more of yours, you have access in and out of, it’s starting to grow here. It might grow too fast, which I worry about. But I think that if you layer that concept over into for-sale product, it’s a very similar idea.
Do you go to some of these private clubs? Are you a member of any?
I go to a couple of them. I don’t use them as much as I probably should, but it’s probably because I have babies at home. But I think it’s a great way to entertain clients. I think a great way to guarantee yourself the right environment when you’re speaking to different types of people. I wouldn’t say I use it as much socially.
How old is your youngest child?
I have a 6 month old. I have a 20 month old. I have a 14-year old. I have an 18-year old, and I have twins who are 21.
How did you meet your [current] wife?
She was from L.A., and we used to have an office in L.A.. So I met her in California and I convinced her that these winters weren’t so painful.
How long ago was that?
She’s been here now probably like eight, nine years.
Do you all talk about work much at home?
I try to talk about work a little bit. I try not to talk about it too much. Honestly, we have got a pretty full house at home and when I go home, I love being a father. I’d rather not be talking about real estate.
Your wife is a health coach. What sort of health things has she got you on?
I don’t drink coffee so much anymore, so that’s a positive. My latest one is you count your macros. Interestingly, when you’re counting macros you actually have to eat a lot more than you think, a lot more carbs than you think. But I’ve always been very healthy for the most part.
Do you feel like there’s a secret to getting a good match, to meeting someone that you want to be married to?
At the end of the day, like, you’re only as good as your significant other. We spend a lot of time together as a couple, we spend a lot of time together as family. It’s the number one success I’ve had in my life.
A lot of people in New York, they get older, they leave. What made you want to stay in Manhattan?
I love New York. I think the energy that’s here, the relationships that I have here with friends and colleagues. It’s in my blood. I think New York is just in your blood or it’s not. I leave New York because I need some air sometimes, right? But I don’t think I’ll ever leave New York, ever.
If you were the mayor of New York, what might be one thing you would change?
New Yorkers need to feel safe. I think that [Mayor Zohran Mamdani] is doing a good job, but I think needs to just tighten that up.
Do you carry cash in your wallet? And if so, how much?
I usually like to keep like $500 in cash on me. That’s my number. But it gets taken by my kids often.
Do you still go to the shore?
What we typically do in the summer is one year we’ll travel abroad and we’ll be abroad somewhere a couple times. Then once a year we’ll go out east to the Hamptons.