The Real Deal New York

Clipper Equity is a residential landlord and development firm led by David Bistricer in a partnership with Sam Levinson. The Brooklyn-based company is founded on the real estate holdings of the Bistricer family, including David's parents, Elsa and Moric. Some of the properties were acquired in the 1970s and 1980s. David's son Jacob, who goes by JJ, has worked for the family firm for the past decade and is now chief operating officer, according to LinkedIn. Clipper Equity has a lot of experience with conversions, turning residential buildings into cooperatives or office buildings into  loft-like apartments. The firm sometimes invests in partnership with another family-run developer and landlord, the Chetrit Group. Together, Clipper and Chetrit have acquired the Sony Building, Flatotel and other buildings the developers want to convert to more lucrative uses. In 2007, Clipper Equity made a failed bid, worth $1.3 billion, for Starrett City, the largest federally-subsidized housing development in the U.S. The past irregularities of Clipper Equity and Bistricer played a role in the collapse of the deal. Several of the firm's projects from past decades converting rental apartments into cooperatives or condominiums lacked proper disclosure, garnering Bistricer a ban from conversion work in 1998. The company has gotten exceptions from the ban on an individual-project basis.