Joseph Moinian made a name for himself with audacious real estate deals — like the building on John Street that he bought at $12 a square foot and rented out for $58 a square foot. Or his purchase of Chicago’s Sears Tower, which he bought in 2004 with Joseph Chetrit and a number of other investors, paying $840 million. Chetrit’s most recent acquisitions include 620 Sixth Avenue, which houses Bed Bath & Beyond, Filene’s and TJ Maxx. Yair Levy and Charles Dayan were his partners on that $300 million purchase last year.

But ask Moinian, Chetrit, Levy or Dayan about their very first deals, and you’re liable to get stories about an altogether different kind of transaction. They’ll probably tell you about selling pants, shirts and undergarments to the very same kind of business owners to whom they now rent space. Read the full article from the March 2007 issue here.

Source: From the archives: Developers cut from the same cloth