From the August issue: Back in 1980 — as oil prices were peaking in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution — Israeli shipping magnate Sammy Ofer felt the itch to diversify his billion-dollar maritime empire.
Enlisting his then 30-year-old son, Eyal, as his proxy, Ofer waded into New York’s real estate market, paying $800,000 for a brownstone on 42nd Street near Fifth Avenue that he quickly flipped for $1.8 million.
Over the next three decades, the Ofers steadily expanded their core shipping business as well as their real estate investments in New York and across the United States. Since the early aughts, the family’s Global Holdings has backed marquee condos developed by the Zeckendorf family, including 15 Central Park West, 520 Park Avenue, 50 United Nations Plaza and 18 Gramercy Park, as well as the Rudin family’s Greenwich Lane, among other New York City properties. [more]