Forbes 400 richest member Richard LeFrak joined the LeFrak Organization in 1968, was appointed its President in 1975, and was elected Chairman of the Board and CEO in 2003. Founded in 1901, the LeFrak Organization owns an extensive portfolio of real property concentrated in the New York, Los Angeles, and London metropolitan areas. Focusing primarily on residential, office, hotel, and retail assets, the Company is recognized as one of the world’s leading building firms, having developed, built, and continuing to maintain and operate a majority of its portfolio. Mr. LeFrak often appears as a guest or host on important business television and radio programs, including CNBC and Bloomberg News. In this interview Mr. LeFrak discusses the financial collapse in the US, the fact that too much debt destroys businesses, the staggering US debt, a coming decline in the standard of living for generations to come, investing in energy, where to invest in the current real estate market, natural abosorption rate of troubled real estate, the difficulty of being a landlord with uncertain rental rates, the greatest asset the US has, the need for a pro-business atmosphere and much more
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Richard S. LeFrak
Biography from lefrak.com
RICHARD S. LEFRAK - Chairman and CEO of the LeFrak Organization
Richard LeFrak joined the LeFrak Organization in 1968, was appointed its President in 1975, and was elected Chairman of the Board and CEO in 2003.
His vision and leadership continue to help grow and diversify one of the world’s most dynamic privately-held building and development companies. Active in oil and gas exploration as well as financial investments, LeFrak is perhaps best known as one of the most prolific and iconic real estate developers of all time. In addition to building hundreds of distinctive residential buildings throughout the New York metropolitan region containing tens of thousands of apartments, the Company’s real estate holdings include millions of square feet of Class A office, retail, and mixed-use developments from Manhattan to Los Angeles.
Among scores of Mr. LeFrak’s signature developments are the impressive Tower at 40 West 57th Street in New York City, where his Company is headquartered; and Gateway Plaza and the Hudson River Esplanade at Battery Park City in Manhattan's financial district. Currently, Mr. LeFrak is directing the development of the award-winning Newport in Jersey City, a several hundred acre mixed-use, master-planned community on the Hudson River waterfront. One of the largest and most successful projects of its kind in the United States, Newport ultimately will be comprised of thousands of apartments; and millions of square feet of office park, retail, hotel, and community facilities.
Mr. LeFrak serves on the board of a number of organizations, including the Board of Trustees of Amherst College, and the Board of Trustees of the Prostate Cancer Foundation. He also has served as a Member of the Board of Trustees of the American Museum of Natural History, the Board of Trustees of the Trinity School, and as a Member of the New York State Banking Board.
Mr. LeFrak presides over the LeFrak Foundation, a private philanthropy whose mission encompasses a broad, but focused agenda, including the support of charitable organizations; institutions of higher learning, hospitals, research facilities, and cultural programs that sustain and encourage literary, performing, and visual arts.
Mr. LeFrak often appears as a guest or host on important business television and radio programs, including CNBC and Bloomberg News.
Mr. LeFrak graduated cum laude from Amherst College in 1967, and went on to study law at Columbia University, from which he received his J.D. in 1970. In 1998, Mr. LeFrak received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Amherst College. Mr. LeFrak and his wife, Karen, have two sons, Harrison, 37, and James, 35; both are principals of the LeFrak Organization.
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LeFrak Organization
Founded in 1901, the LeFrak Organization owns an extensive portfolio of real property concentrated in the New York, Los Angeles, and London metropolitan areas. Focusing primarily on residential, office, hotel, and retail assets, the Company is recognized as one of the world’s leading building firms, having developed, built, and continuing to maintain and operate a majority of its portfolio. Acclaimed internationally for responsible community development and sensitivity to environmental sustainability, the LeFrak name has become synonymous with excellence in design, construction, engineering, and urban planning.
In the 1960’s the LeFrak Organization undertook one of its largest challenges when it developed and built LeFrak City, a community of 5,000 apartments on 42 acres adjacent to Forest Hills, Queens.
In the early 1980’s, LeFrak also was the initial developer of the 92-acre Battery Park City, in Manhattan, constructing the first 1,700 luxury apartments, known as Gateway.
Since the late 1980’s, the Organization has been developing and building Newport, the largest new waterfront community in the United States on several hundred acres of land facing Manhattan and New York Harbor on the Jersey City bank of the Hudson River. Newport is consistent with the Company’s traditional focus of building and holding for long term ownership high quality residential and office towers, as well as hotel and retail properties. Newport provides incredible views of Manhattan and an extensive complement of on-site amenities, including a subway station with trains commuting to Manhattan just one stop away. At, Newport, to date, more than 16-million square feet has been completed, along with apartment-homes for approximately 5,000 families, office space for more than 20,000 employees, and convenient shopping facilities for residents and over 2 million annual visitors.
Since 2000, LeFrak has expanded geographically to Los Angeles and London, acquiring assets, including office buildings and development sites, in Los Angeles, Hollywood, and in the prestigious Beverly Hills Triangle. As the firm’s geography has expanded, it also has extended its principles and strategy of quality and luxury to new markets and customers.
In addition to its extensive real property activities, since 1970 the Organization has been a significant energy investor, originating and drilling a significant number of on-shore oil and gas wells in the continental United States. LeFrak also sponsors the activities of several geologists in generating new prospects, participating as an owner/partner in opportunities originated by peer oil and gas firms. The firm also has invested in wind energy generation.
Since the 1980’s, LeFrak has been an active investor in fixed income and equity securities, and in currencies and commodities. The Company also provides capital to entrepreneurs for specific private investments consistent with its principles.
Established by Harry LeFrak near the beginning of the last Century, the Company expanded rapidly under the leadership of his son, Samuel J. LeFrak, who led the firm from 1948 to 2003. Now under the leadership of Sam's son, Richard S. LeFrak – the firm’s Chairman and C.E.O. – and with Richard's two sons, Harrison and James LeFrak, principals of the firm, the LeFrak Organization remains a privately-held Company faithful to the principles of integrity, quality, and luxury instituted by its forbearers.
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For more from Richard LeFrak READ Lori Ann LaRocco’s book.
