Michael Dezer
Michael Dezer | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1941 (age 82–83) |
| Nationality | Israel |
| Occupation | real estate investor |
| Spouse | Neomi Kerekes |
| Children | Leslie Dezer Salmon Gil Dezer Estee Dezer Gurwitz |
Michael Dezer (born 1941) is an Israeli-born, New York real estate developer and founder of Dezer Properties.
Biography
Dezer was born in Tel Aviv, Israel,[1] the son of a bus driver.[2] He served in the Israeli Air Force.[1] In 1962, he immigrated to the U.S. where he went to night school and worked in advertising before starting a typesetting business.[2] He then started investing in real estate and founded Dezer Properties in New York City which focused on the Chelsea neighborhood[3] which was then transitioning into an arts community from its former identity as a manufacturing center.[1] In the 1980s, he purchased a number of ocean front plots in Miami and, in partnership with Donald Trump, developed numerous properties including the $900 million Trump Towers, the $600 million Trump Grande Ocean Resort and Residences and the $166 million Trump International Hotel and Tower in Fort Lauderdale.[1] As of 2013, Dezer owns and manages 1.3 million square feet of commercial space in Chelsea.[4]
Dezer is also the landlord of the luxury auto retailer Manhattan Motorcars.[1]
Personal life
He is married to fellow Israeli Neomi (née Kerekes) and has three children: daughters Leslie Dezer Salmon (b. 1970) and Estee Dezer Gurwitz (born 1978); and son Gil Dezer (b.1975).[5] All his children participate in the family business.[5] His son Gil is currently developing the 60-story Porsche Design Tower in Sunny Isles Beach.[3] Dezer collects cars and has over 1,000 cars in the Miami Auto Museum in North Miami.The collection has diverse types of cars like European classics,American classics,microcars,movie cars,supercars to military vehicles.Adding to the cars,he has hundreds of other vehicles like Motorcycles,Scooters,Bicycles and the largest collection of Vespas displayed at the museum.[3][6] As his collection went on growing,he launched 2 outposts of his main Miami Auto Museum. In 2014, he opened Hollywood Cars Museum in Las Vegas by partnering with classic and exotic car dealer Hot Rod City,Las Vegas to display more than 100 cars from movies,tv shows and videos.[7] In 2016,he bought a space in Xtreme Sports Park in Fort Lauderdale to open the second outpost of his main museum to display about 200 cars.[8]
References
- ^ a b c d e Forbes: "Meet The Real Estate Baron Who Owns James Bond's Soviet Tank - And The Batmobile" by Hannah Elliott April 15, 2013
- ^ a b People: "Michael Dezer Just Hated to See the '50s Disappear...So He Brought Them Back" by Patricia Freeman and Mary Huzinec August 29, 1988
- ^ a b c Miami Herald: "Porsche fanatic Gil Dezer makes mark in Sunny Isles Beach" By Martha Brannigan October 27, 2013
- ^ The Real Deal: "The quiet players - Meet some New York City empire builders who shun the spotlight" By Gabby Warshawer September 01, 2009
- ^ a b The Real Deal: "Gil Dezer lives life in the fast lane - Car-crazy condo developer redefines luxury in Sunny Isles" By Emily Schmall October 01, 2013
- ^ Dezer Collection website retrieved November 2, 2013
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]