The Real Deal New York

Stanley Chera is a New York real estate developer and founder of Crown Acquisitions. He  was born in 1942 to a Syrian Jewish family. Chera started purchasing real estate in New York City in the 1908s, at first as a minority partner and, in the 2000s, as the lead developer. He is known for developing or "repositioning" the retail portion of his buildings and then selling the properties. In a joint venture with the Carlyle Group and Charles Kushner, he sold the retail portion of 666 Fifth Avenue in two transactions for more than $1 billion.

In 2010, he began the restoration of the the Knickerbocker Hotel in Manhattan. In June 2013, Chera purchased 650 Madison Avenue for $1.3 billion in partnership with Highgate Holdings from the Carlyle Group. He is an investor in One World Trade Center and has accumulated a lot of property in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Chera's Crown was also part of a large partnership that included Feil Organization and BLDG Management, which sold the retail at the St. Regis Hotel at 2 East 55th Street in 2012 for $380.6 million three years after buying it for $117 million. In 2009, Crown held 15 million square feet of real estate in New York City.

Chera has three sons: Haim Chera, Isaac (Ike) Chera and Richard Chera, who are all active in the family business.