CJ Follini
CJ Follini (born New York in 1967)is a wealthy American real estate entrepreneur and film producer. A native New Yorker who made his fortune investing in alternative real estate.
Biography
Follini grew up in Westchester County and New York City where he attended the prestigious Jesuit high school - Fordham Preparatory School.
Follini attended Tufts University in Boston and graduated with anEconomics Degree from the London School of Economics in the UK and starred on the universities' ice hockey and rugby teams.
Career
From the age of 12, he worked at entry level construction jobs learning the building trade from his father, Charles Follini Sr., a highly decorated former fireman with the FDNY. While Follini’s early accomplishments came as a Senior Executive of Shooting Gallery and as Founder and CEO of Gun For Hire Production Centers, the largest independent film studio and digital media centers in the United States, respectively, Follini was always active developing and investing in alternative real estate such as: industrial; waterfront land development; brownfields re-development; film studios; and most recently, medical office and senior housing. The following are a few career real estate milestones:
1994 Developed a 400 acre site with Rockefeller Group Properties for the expansion of the International Trade Center in Mount Olive, New Jersey.
19967 – 2001 Conceived, designed and renovated 400,000+ square feet of digital media studios in New York, Miami, Vancouver, Toronto and Los Angeles. Known as the Gun For Hire Production Centers, his New York site won the Crain’s Small Business Award in 1998. [1]
2001 Developed a re-claimed 12-acre brownfield located on the waterfront in Queens, New York. Purchased for $9,000,000 out of bankruptcy, Follini sold the property was sold three years later to the Bayrock Group, Donald Trump's partner in Trump Soho for $27,500,000.
2002 Formed Noyack Medical Partners[2], LLC to develop and acquire health care real estate ( i.e. medical office buildings). Since 2003, Follini has accumulated a $100MM+ portfolio. Recently purchased the commercial half of the tallest building in Brooklyn , the famed landmark - One Hanson Place[3].
2005 Formed North Street Community to develop 23 acre former St. Agnes Hospital Campus in White Plains, New York purchased at a foreclosure auction for $22,000,000. Recently announced the largestactive adult housing development in North America. [4]
The 730,000 square foot, $250MM planned campus also includes assisted living and medical office buildings.
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Producer credits
In 2000, Follini produced the short film Bullet in the Brain[5], winner of ten festival awards including the first online Hypnotic/Universal Million Dollar Film. He also produced Someday, a music video for Irish pop band "Tellulah Crash," and a PSA for the R.E.A.C.H. Foundation, an organization that helps children with life-threatening diseases and children in low-income school districts.
Follini is also the Executive Producer for documentary "Burning the Future: Coal in America"[6] story of mountaintop removal mining and its disastrous effects on the environment. [7]
Personal life
Follini is married to fellow entrepreneur and perfumer Renee Ryan who developed the highly successful Vera Wang fragrance for which she won a coveted 2003 FiFi Awards. She also started the luxury pet products company - Sexy Beast[2]
The couple live on their waterfront estate in Sag Harbor in Southampton, Suffolk County, New York with their white boxer, Austin.
Honors
Winner of 1998 Crains Small Business Award for Gun For Hire Digital Media Centers
Winner of 2001 Universal Studios/Hypnotic Film Award for "Bullet In The Brain"
References
- ^ TAKE 2: FILM FIRM EXPANDS IN VILLAGE; GUN FOR HIRE LEASES MORE SPACE AS DEMAND GROWS FASTER THAN EXPECTED. Crain's New York Business; January 4, 1999; CROGHAN, LORE [1]
- ^ http://www.noyackmedical.com/
- ^ http://www.globest.com/news/1160_1160/newyork/170877-1.html
- ^ http://www.globest.com/news/946_946/newyork/162181-1.html
- ^ http://www.variety.com/profiles/Film/main/34420/Bullet%20in%20the%20Brain.html?dataSet=1
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1065120/
- ^ http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117936349.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&query=burning+the+future
External links
Noyack Medical Partners website [3]
CJ Follini on IMDB [4]
Burning The Future [5]
Sexy Beast website [6]