Who

A scion of the family that made a fortune in real estate and retail, Andrew Farkas is the man behind the real estate investment firms Insignia and Island Capital.

Backstory

Andrew's grandfather George Farkas founded the Alexander's department store chain in 1928, and his father Robin later served as CEO of the discount-oriented chain, which at its peak had 15 stores in the New York area. (Andrew's uncle, meanwhile, is diminutive man-about-town Jonathan Farkas.) But by the time Andrew had reached his teen years, the company was in decline and largely inactive, and rather than join Alexander's after graduating Harvard, he signed on at Salomon Brothers at the height of the '80s Wall Street boom. He started Insignia soon after with $5 million in family money, and built the company up by buying distressed real estate properties. He eventually became one of the largest managers of residential real estate in the country, branching out into commercial real estate with the purchase of the Edward S. Gordon Company in 1996. A few missteps with tech-oriented ventures followed (most notably the EdificeRex residential "portal") and by 2002, Farkas was ready to move on. He eventually shed Insignia's assets, selling his New York condo and co-op management business to Prudential Douglas Elliman and his commercial property services business to CB Richard Ellis. He held onto 40 buildings to form the core of his new company, Island Capital.

Of note

A boating aficionado—hence the life-sized wooden statue of a sword-wielding pirate in his 56th Street office—Farkas's Island Capital is now working to build high-end marinas all over the world. Each is equipped with the facilities of a five-star hotel (so that the exceedingly rich can pull into port and step off their yachts straight into the lap of luxury) and he currently controls nine marinas in the Caribbean. (The first, Yacht Haven Grande in St. Thomas, opened in 2005.) Farkas has also been very active in Dubai. He's working with partners there to construct marinas in the Middle East, and he also serves as an advisor to Dubai-based companies like Isthimar, which have been busy gobbling up properties in New York.

Campaign trail

Farkas has been one of Andrew Cuomo's most active supporters, helping the politico raise millions for his 2006 attorney general campaign. But the two have a complicated—and some say questionable—past working together. In 1997, when Cuomo was Bill Clinton's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Cuomo accused Farkas of paying millions in kickbacks to the owners of buildings that Insignia managed, and the company settled the case by paying a hefty fine. But the two apparently patched up their dispute: Cuomo later took a high-paying position at Island, only leaving the firm when he ran for attorney general in 2006. Wayne Barrett of the Village Voice raised suspicions about their dealings in a September 2006 exposé.

Personal

The real estate scion is married to the very social Sandi Farkas, who, in Farkas family tradition, is significantly taller than him. It's Farkas's second marriage: He married his first wife, Pamela Stedman, in 1988 and they have two daughters together. Until recently, Andrew and Sandi lived in a 14-room condo in Midtown with wrap-around terraces, a gym, a library, and a ballroom. In July 2007, they sold the apartment to financier Wilbur Ross for $18.9 million. The same year Farkas purchased a townhouse on East 73rd Street from J. Christopher Flowers for $23 million. He also has a home in Southampton which he purchased for $5.4 million in 2004.

Toys

Not surprisingly, Farkas likes megayachts. He purchased Nelson Doubleday's 125-foot Palmer Johnson pilothouse schooner, Mandalay, and says he has plans to build an even larger boat.