Turning rough diamonds into crown jewels - Profile in construction: Shaya Boymelgreen, President, LB Lev Leview/Boymelgreen

Real Estate Weekly, March 3, 2004

Shaya Boymelgreen's vision has made LB Lev Leviev/Boymelgreen among the most active players in New York City real estate. Whether its books or buildings, diamonds or designers, Shaya Boymelgreen, knows how to choose the best.

As president and owner of LB Lev Leviev/Boymelgreen, though, he has proven that buildings are his true calling.

With seven widely diverse projects fully completed in 2003 and another five already set to begin in the coming 12 months, Boymelgreen has emerged over the past decade as one of the most active, successful and highly capitalized real estate developers in the New York region.

His recently formed joint venture with Africa Israel Investments fortified his firm's financial standing and his two most recent residential projects, designed by acclaimed architectural firm Tsao & McKown, secured his reputation as a developer who brings the best of design to luxury residential development.

A native of Israel, Boymelgreen came to New York in 1969 as a student. He first ventured into real estate in 1973, and when the market dynamics shifted in the early 1980's, Boymelgreen founded his own bookstore, which specialized in Jewish literature.

By the time he sold Eichlers, it was the largest religious bookstore in New York City and has since grown to be the largest Judaica store in the world.

After selling Eichlers, Boymelgreen operated a thriving diamond business before deciding to return to real estate industry, forming his own Brooklyn-based firm, Boymelgreen Developers LLC, in 1993.

>From the beginning, his full-service development company was a pioneering force in emerging neighborhoods like the East Village and Alphabet City. Boymelgreen's prescient investments on the Lower East Side resulted in the successful development of three residential rental properties, totaling 250 units, in what is now one of the hottest districts in Manhattan.

>From the Lower East Side he crossed the bridge into Brooklyn and developed a residential rental property in the Williamsburg section well before it became the destination for hip young urbanites, artists and professionals.

Boymelgreen's next project, now known as 700 Pacific, took him to Prospect Heights in Brooklyn and the site of the former New York Daily News printing and distribution plant.

He won approval for a zoning change for a full three city block area, allowing his groundbreaking residential conversion of the 300,000-square-foot industrial site into 150 luxury loft condominiums.

Boymelgreen demonstrated the quality he brings to real estate development, viewing each property through the trained eye of a jeweler, able to see the magnificent gem at the heart of an uncut stone.

With a host of flourishing projects, Boymelgreen brought his company into a new era two years ago when he entered into a joint venture with Lev Leviev and Africa Israel Investments, LB Lev Leviev/Boymelgreen, strengthening the company's investment prowess.

Boymelgreen has undertaken a number of high profile and highly successful endeavors and the company has grown dramatically.

To meet the new challenges, Boymelgreen has, over the past 18 months, added 30 experienced professionals ranging from construction experts to project managers and hailing from some of New York's leading construction firms.

By gathering experts in every area of development for his team, Boymelgreen is able to consistently deliver the highest quality in residential properties.

A stellar example of a recently completed project is Bridgefront in the Park slope section of Brooklyn. Every available residence at Bridgefront sold out before completion of the construction process, which from groundbreaking to completion was less than a year.

As an additional testament to the unmatched quality of the completed project, a number of the residents at Bridgefront have joined waiting lists for two of Boymelgreen's upcoming condominium developments slated for construction on the same block in Park Slope.

Two of the company's most recent projects, Spring and River Lofts, are on track to be as just as successful as his earlier projects and are proving to be the most fully realized iterations of Boymelgreen's residential development acumen to date.

Both developments bring the talent and vision of world-renowned architect Calvin Tsao, of Tsao & McKown, to the table to help create some of the most exciting luxury residential living options on the market. Having designed spectacular private residences, hotel interiors and boutiques for the fashion industry's elite, Tsao is viewed as one of the world's most exhilarating contemporary designers. Boymelgreen's Spring and River Lofts projects are the first applications of Tsao's philosophy to large scale multi-dwelling design.

Though situated just over 20 blocks from one another, Spring and River Lofts are completely individual in their designs. Tsao's aesthetic schemes are each remarkable and exemplify his approach, which is based on specific research into the tastes and cultures of prospective inhabitants. Spring, which is currently 80% sold just four months after coming on the market, is located at the crossroads of SoHo and NoLita at 225 Lafayette Street, is a magnificent renovation of the 1924 Beaux Arts building originally designed by Cass Gilbert, the architect of the legendary Woolworth Building.