Jacob Chetrit, Major New York City Real Estate Owner, Dies at 69

Jacob Chetrit, part of one of New York City’s biggest real estate families and the owner of the Chetrit Organization, has died at the age of 69.

The news was announced last week by The Ohel Moshe Synagogue, Chetrit’s Orthodox Sephardic synagogue in Brooklyn, according to The Real Deal.

Joseph Chetrit, Jacob’s brother, could not be reached for comment.

Jacob made a name for himself with the Chetrit Organization, which he spun off from his other brothers’ company the Chetrit Group in the 2010s. Chetrit Organization owns properties such as the 21-story office building at 1 Whitehall Street in the Financial District and the six-story office building at 428 Broadway in SoHo, both recently hit with foreclosure notices.

(Disclosure: Commercial Observer is a tenant at 1 Whitehall Street.)

Still, Chetrit was a big name in the city’s real estate, completing deals such as the sale of the 617,000-square-foot office tower at 850 Third Avenue in 2023, TRD reported.

“Jacob has been one of the behind-the-scenes geniuses, figuring out how to buy something that nobody wants and turn it into something that everybody wants,” Jonathan Mechanic, chairman of Fried Frank’s real estate department, told Commercial Observer.

Chetrit was also active in Florida, where he had been developing two projects in Pompano Beach and Hollywood Beach with his brother Joseph, who runs the Chetrit Group, according to TRD.

Jacob Chetrit’s birthplace were not immediately known, but Crain’s New York Business reported he was 69. His father, Simon Chetrit, ran a successful textile business in Morocco before the Chetrit brothers headed to America to make a name in real estate.

Joseph, along with Jacob and brothers Meyer and Juda, started the Chetrit Group in the 1980s by buying apartment buildings in Brooklyn and Queens and became a major player in New York City real estate in the 2000s, when their company bought and sold properties such as the Standard Oil Building at 26 Broadway and the Hotel Chelsea at 222 West 23rd Street.

“They’re guys who see outside the box and try to bring some of their creativity to the real estate world,” Mechanic said.

But in the 2010s, Jacob and Juda split off from brothers Joseph and Meyer and began their own Chetrit Organization. The Chetrit Organization made splashy purchases, including the $815 million acquisition of the former New York Daily News headquarters at 220 East 42nd Street in 2019.

Funeral services for Jacob took place Sunday, TRD reported.

Update: This story was updated to include Jacob Chetrit’s age.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.