Stellar Management

Stellar Management is a real estate investment and management firm founded in 1985. Stellar has more than 100 buildings in New York City and Miami, with 2 million square feet of commercial space besides. Run by Larry Gluck, who founded the firm with Steve Witkoff in 1985, Stellar initially made a name for itself by developing low-income rental buildings in Washington Heights.

Stellar has since moved into renovating larger projects (such as Harlem's Riverton Houses in 2005, where it later defaulted during the financial crisis) and purchasing more luxurious apartments (such as when it purchased the Paris for $146 million in 2016). Stellar Management also worked with partner Rockpoint Group on in its One Soho Square, a 768,000-square-foot retail and office development in lower Manhattan.

Stellar has also made headlines over the years for various lawsuits and tenant complaints. In 2014, Stellar was accused by rent-stabilized tenants in one of its Upper West Side apartment buildings of harassment, and the firm has been accused in the past of barring other rent-stabilized tenants from using certain amenities.

In 2016, Stellar sued Brookhill Properties founder Raphael Toledano for allegedly backing out of a $110 million loan.

Stellar faced controversy again in 2019 when emails revealed that the firm had requested that a relatively affluent, economically active Hell's Kitchen census tract be included in the state's map for Opportunity Zone tax breaks. The controversial inclusion of census tract 135 in the program ostensibly meant to bring development to depressed areas has been cited by legislators arguing to end or overhaul the state's OZ program.