All families fight.
But when the family in question is a New York City real estate dynasty, there is a lot more money involved. And more drama.
In our cover story this month, “Sol that glitters isn’t gold,” we take a look at the private dispute spilling out in court that could tear apart the legendary Sol Goldman property empire.
As senior reporter Rich Bockmann writes, Sol Goldman was widely acknowledged as the most successful real estate investor of his time, and built up a portfolio of 600 properties that once included the Chrysler Building. He died back in 1987, and in the 35 years following his death, the Goldman family led the kind of life that all families aspire to: “a quiet — if delicate — prosperity.”
Goldman’s four adult children inherited the estate. But that peace was shattered two and a half years ago when one of them, Allan, died at age 78. Since then his 33-year-old son, Steven (a champion poker player and Wharton MBA grad), and Amy (who has largely been absent from the business, pursuing her passion as a renowned horticulturist) have challenged youngest sister Jane’s control of the family business in a bitter affair their attorneys likened to a real-life version of the HBO show “Succession.”
Families are complicated. And death can bring up all sorts of unresolved emotions. That’s especially true in a wildly successful family like the Goldmans, who built their fortune over generations and have spawned progeny that make big cultural contributions as well as financial ones. It makes the break-up all the more tragic.
In his 5,000 word piece, Bockmann does a meticulous job detailing the family drama playing out in a Delaware courtroom. It reads like a novel, except instead of adultery and addiction, there are lots of LLCs and financial documents. It’s spare prose poetry, of a sort, about love, loss and spreadsheets.
The best part about the Goldmans’ story is that it’s relatable. Nobody drives their car off a cliff, or gets addicted to heroin. The most overt drama is that someone “slammed the door and went away screaming so loud that she could be heard in the hallway.” It’s how real adults battle it out, even when there are billions of dollars on the line. Check out the story here.
We’ve got more on real estate dynasties elsewhere in the issue. The story “Daughters of Industry” looks at the women of real estate’s most influential families. As reporters Kathryn Brenzel, Elizabeth Cryan and Katherine Kallergis write, “for a long time, succession in real estate remained the purview of male relatives.” Now, however, “it is no longer a foregone conclusion that the next in line will be a son.” That’s true at the nearly century old Rudin Management, where Samantha Rudin Earls recently ascended to co-CEO. We sit down for a Closing interview.
There is a reason many of these dynasties want to stay out of the public eye — there is already plenty of scrutiny as a public company. That’s true even if you are not a dynasty.
Case in point: Douglas Elliman. As reporter Sheridan Wall writes, Douglas Elliman’s third summer as a public company has been even worse than the first two.
“Pick your problem: a share price dipping as low as $1, its eighth quarterly loss in a row, an activist calling out the chairman for poor financial performance, or sexual assault allegations against two of the brokerage’s former top agents,” Wall notes.
Elliman — like the rest of the industry — is hoping for lower interest rates this autumn that will spur activity in the market, which could help its profitability.
After all, boosting the bottom line is usually easier than solving family feuds.