Olympia & York Patriarch Albert Reichmann Dies at 93

Albert Reichmann, the patriarch behind the firm that was once New York City’s largest private commercial landlord, has died at 93.

The Olympia & York patriarch died on Dec. 17 in his family’s hometown of Toronto, his grandson confirmed to the New York Times.

The developer made his name with major bets across the world, including the World Financial Center in Manhattan and the Canary Wharf section of London. He built a family net worth estimated by Forbes to top out at $10 billion before the company landed in bankruptcy in 1992 and sold to Brookfield Properties in 2005.

Reichmann was born in Vienna, Austria in 1929 after his family fled Europe shortly before the start of World War II. Reichmann and his wife ultimately settled in Toronto in 1959.

Albert’s brothers, Edward and Louis, helmed Olympia Floor & Wall Tile in Montreal at the time, while another brother, Ralph, led an affiliate in Toronto. Albert started York Factory Developments with money from his father before the family’s companies merged in 1964.

Viewed as a quieter leader of the company, Albert was responsible for administration and internal issues at the firm. His brother Paul, who died in 2013, was seen as the charismatic dealmaker of the pair.

One of the company’s most prominent projects was the World Financial Center in Manhattan, designed by famed architect Cesar Pelli. The property is still around today, but goes by Brookfield Place following Brookfield’s acquisition of the company’s portfolio.

“There have been two great real estate deals in the history of New York,” Battery Park City Authority CEO Meyer Frucher told the Times in 1987. “The first was when the Dutch bought the island of Manhattan. The second was when the Canadians bought the island again.”

The company also rehabilitated the Docklands in London, recruited to the Canary Wharf project by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The company’s development portfolio also included Exchange Place in Boston, the Olympia Center in Chicago and First Canadian Place in Toronto.

The company filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada in 1992, boasting 23 million square feet of Manhattan office space at the time. The recession of the late 1980s doomed the company, particularly after the slow lease up of Canary Wharf.