Who

One of the largest real estate developers in the city, Moinian is founder and CEO of the Moinian Group.

Backstory

The Iranian Jewish Moinian immigrated to New York in 1971 at the age 16, settled in the Forest Hills section of Queens, and took his first job working in the kitchen of the glamorous Cozy Corners restaurant. He later enrolled at City College, but soon dropped out to start his first company, a women's clothing concern called Billy Jack for Her. With the profits he made from his fashion business, he launched a small development firm, the Moinian Group, in 1980. His early projects were relatively modest conversions of loft buildings into office properties, including 450-460 Park Avenue South and 72 Madison Avenue. In the mid-90s, though, he became one of the dominant landlords downtown, scooping up 29-story 90 John Street in 1995, 90 William Street in 1996, and a handful of other buildings in the financial district. Today Moinian controls over 20 million square feet of office space and luxury housing, the majority of which—some 14 million square feet—is in Manhattan.

Of note

Moinian has gone on an acquisition frenzy on lower Fifth Avenue in recent years: He purchased 417 Fifth (for $125 million), 245 Fifth ($190 million), 475 Fifth ($162 million), and 530 Fifth ($210 million). On the Far West Side—where he's an increasingly prolific landowner—he developed the Costas Kondylis-designed Atelier, a 46-story condo that opened its doors in  2007. And Moinian continues to build in lower Manhattan—in 2005 he started developing the Downtown Club, a 280-unit luxury building on West Street. His largest property, though, isn't in New York: In a 2004 deal, Moinian teamed up with fellow New York developer Joseph Chetrit and several other investors to purchase a large stake in Chicago's Sears Tower for $840 million. Up next: Moinian is converting 95 Wall Street into a 507-unit rental building, as well as building two new developments, a 60-story building across the street from Atelier and a Charles Gwathmey-designed W Hotel on at 123 Washington Street.

Legal file

In 1997, Moinian went into contract to buy the Biltmore Theater, a derelict theater on Eighth Avenue and West 47th Street, from the Nederlander Organization. (The property was adjacent to a 51-story condo he was developing, the Biltmore.) When Jimmy Nederlander later backed out of the deal, he held on to Moinian's $1 million deposit. Moinian fired back with a $35 million lawsuit. Amends were eventually made, and Moinian ended up renovating the theater with developer Jack Parker in 2001.

Family ties

Two of Moinian's brothers are also active in the New York real estate development scene. Morris Moinian presides over a self-founded real estate concern, Fortuna Realty Group, and is currently developing the Hotel Indigo in Chelsea. Meanwhile, Joseph's other brother, David Moinian, is a vice president of the Moinian Group.

Personal

Moinian and his wife, fellow Iran native Nazee Moinian, have five children including a son, Matthew, who works at the Moinian Group. Nazee is a co-owner of Melonie de France, a distributor of artificial flowers and scented candles. In 2005, they bought the late arts patron Audrey Love's 18-room Park Avenue apartment for $13.8 million; they also have a summerhouse in Quogue, which they've opened up to host fundraisers for Hillary Clinton and other Democrats.

True story

To generate some publicity for his Atelier development, Moinian gifted Lindsay Lohan a two-bedroom condo in early 2007. Perhaps Lohan wasn't the wisest pick. Shortly after she was arrested, Moinian pulled the same stunt again, this time handing over a pad to Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo.

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