William (top left), Eric (top right), Michael (bottom left) and Samantha Rudin (bottom right).
William, Eric, Samantha and Michael Rudin
Co-Chairman and CEO; Co-Chairman and President; Exec. Vice President; Exec. Vice President at Rudin Management
Last year's rank: 21
Like Mary, Rudin is a grand old name, at least around these parts.
There was a time when New York real estate was all about the families: some patriarch immigrant who saved his nickels and dimes, or drove a cab, and just squeezed out enough cash to afford a down payment for some commercial building on Delancey Street or in Downtown Brooklyn.
From their first modest deal they built an empire. The same could be written about the Dursts, the Resnicks, the Silversteins, the Tishmans, the LeFraks, the Zeckendorfs. At some point they were about all you needed to know about New York real estate.
These days, a piece of commercial real estate in New York is as apt to be owned by a private equity fund, a public pension fund, a REIT, a sovereign wealth fund from a Gulf state, an Asian business tycoon, even a toy entrepreneur like Ty Warner.
Bill Rudin is determined to make sure the Rudin family is as much a part of New York’s future as its past, though.
Rudin Management, founded in 1925 by Samuel Rudin, owns 17 residential buildings around the city and 16 office buildings, totaling 4.7 million and 10.5 million square feet, respectively. For Bill, Samuel’s grandson, his determination has been to remain relevant. Back in the 1990s, he resolved
to make sure their buildings were attuned to growing information technology startups.
Today he is determined to remain cutting-edge — such as at Brooklyn’s Dock 72, the office building co-developed with Boston Properties attuned to anchor tenant WeWork and the whole flex office industry — and to make sure that longtime holdings like 3 Times Square and 80 Pine Street downtown are amenitized properly. That takes money.
He and Eric are also making sure Bill’s children, Michael and Samantha, are plugged into the business the way their own fathers Lewis and Jack showed them the ropes.
“My cousin and I are, let’s call it the senior partners, and Samantha and Michael continue to be actively engaged in the business,” Bill Rudin said. “As the next generation of leadership, Samantha and Michael are taking more and more of the operational control of the business.”
