Arlen Realty And Development Corporation
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Arlen Realty & Development Corporation, also known as Arlen, was a
real estate investment trust A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...
founded in 1959 by
Arthur G. Cohen Arthur George Cohen (April 23, 1930 – August 9, 2014) was an American businessman and real estate developer in New York City. Early life and education Cohen was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Frances (née Kostic ...
and Arthur N. Levien. In the early 1970s, it was one of the largest publicly traded real estate investment trusts. Arlen began by developing suburban shopping centers throughout the United States, and in 1971, it acquired discount retail chain
E.J. Korvette E. J. Korvette, also known as Korvettes, was an American chain of discount department stores, founded in 1948 in New York City. It was one of the first department stores to challenge the suggested retail price provisions of anti-discounting st ...
. By 1975, Arlen owned and managed over 42 million square feet of shopping centers, and controlled over $1.7 billion of US real estate assets.


Operations


Olympic Tower

Arlen Developed
Olympic Tower Olympic Tower is a 51-story, building at 641 and 645 Fifth Avenue, between 51st and 52nd Streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the mixed-use development contains ...
with
Aristotle Onassis Aristotle Socrates Onassis (, ; el, Αριστοτέλης Ωνάσης, Aristotélis Onásis, ; 20 January 1906 – 15 March 1975), was a Greek-Argentinian shipping magnate who amassed the world's largest privately-owned shipping fleet and wa ...
in 1975. The building is a 52-story building in Midtown Manhattan, in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on Fifth Avenue, between East 51st Street and East 52nd Street. The exact address is 641 Fifth Avenue. It was constructed on a site that was occupied by a Best & Company Store that was built in 1947. It contains 225 condominium apartments and more than 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2) of office space and retail space. Situated next to St. Patrick's Cathedral, it offers views of the cathedral's buttresses and Fifth Avenue. Upon construction, it became a prime real estate location for the glitterati of that time. The planned use of the building was a groundbreaking concept at that time because it was the first mixed use zoned for Fifth Avenue, which had 21 floors of offices, 30 of condominiums and high-end retail on the first floor. It was designed by the architectural firm of
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel A. Owings, Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer Jo ...
, who also designed the
Willis Tower The Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) is a 108-story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), ...
and
John Hancock Center The John Hancock Center is a 100-story, 1,128-foot supertall skyscraper located in Chicago, Illinois. Located in the Magnificent Mile district, the building was officially renamed 875 North Michigan Avenue in 2018. The skyscraper was designed ...
in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, as well as many other high-rise buildings in the U.S. and worldwide.
Olympic Tower Olympic Tower is a 51-story, building at 641 and 645 Fifth Avenue, between 51st and 52nd Streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the mixed-use development contains ...
was the first residential condominium building in New York to have been built on a ground lease, and set a precedent for many future high end developments such as neighboring
Trump Tower Trump Tower is a 58-story, mixed-use skyscraper at 721–725 Fifth Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, between East 56th and 57th Streets. The building contains the headquarters for the Trump Organization, as well ...
. In 2012, an
Oxford Properties Oxford Properties is a Canadian multinational corporation, with operations in real estate investment, development and property management. Its portfolio includes office, retail, industrial, multi-residential, life sciences and hotel assets. Esta ...
partnership purchased a minority interest in the buildings retail that valued it at over $1 billion.


Aventura

Donald Soffer Donald Soffer (born September 20, 1932) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He is a real estate developer who developed Florida swampland into what was to become the city of Aventura, Florida. Early life and education Soffe ...
owned the property where
Aventura, Florida Aventura is a planned, suburban city in northeastern Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, 17 miles north of the city of Miami and part of the Miami metropolitan area. The city is especially well-known for Aventura Mall, the 5th largest ...
is currently located and wanted to create a project on it called Biscayne Village. Having difficulty getting financing on his own he went to the John Hancock insurance company who agreed to finance the project if Arlen was the lead developer. As a result of the Village of Biscayne Park incorporated in Dade County objected to the name as it would be confusing the name was changed to Aventura creating the early development of the city
Aventura, Florida Aventura is a planned, suburban city in northeastern Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, 17 miles north of the city of Miami and part of the Miami metropolitan area. The city is especially well-known for Aventura Mall, the 5th largest ...
. Arlens other developments in the county included residential developments (Arlen House, Arlen Beach House, Arlen House East, and Arlen House West), as well as office developments, and the Aventura Country Club.


Notable New York City developments

Arlen's other high profile New York City developments include the Arlen Building or
888 7th Avenue 888 Seventh Avenue is a 628 ft (191m) tall modern-style office skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan which was completed in 1969 and has 46 floors. Emery Roth & Sons designed the building. 888 Seventh Avenue is "L"-shaped in plan, with wings ext ...
which was built in 1971 and served as the company's corporate headquarters. In addition to other properties such as
1500 Broadway 1500 Broadway is a skyscraper located in Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The skyscraper was completed in 1972 by Arlen Realty & Development Corporation, with a height of , and has 34 floors. 1500 Broadway is famous for the seven ...
in Times Square,
1166 Avenue of the Americas 1166 Avenue of the Americas (also known as the International Paper Building) is a tall office building at 1166 Sixth Avenue between 45th and 46th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It was completed in 1974 and has 44 ...
, the Westyard Building at 450 West 33rd Street, 100 Wall Street and 800 Third Avenue.


Shopping centers and suburban strip retail

Arlen's shopping center division was headquartered in
Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...
and owned and managed many large regional shopping centers and hundreds of strip retail properties across the United States and
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
. In 1970, Arlen's shopping center division merged with Charles Lebovitz's Independent Enterprises in order to form Arlen subsidiary Arlen Shopping Center Group. Charles Lebovitz, the founder and current chairman of
CBL Properties CBL Properties (previously CBL & Associates, Inc., then CBL & Associates Properties, Inc.) is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers, primarily in the Southeastern and Midwestern United States. The company is or ...
, served as president of Arlen Shopping Center Group throughout the 1970s. Some of Arlen's larger shopping center developments include the
Jefferson Valley Mall Jefferson Valley Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Yorktown, New York. Opened in 1983, it is anchored by Macy's and Dick's Sporting Goods. It is managed by Washington Prime Group. History Melvin Simon & Associates built Jefferson Valley Mall i ...
,
Monmouth Mall Monmouth Mall is an enclosed split level shopping center in Eatontown, New Jersey located on the corner of the intersection of NJ 35, NJ 36, and Wyckoff Road ( Route 547). It is owned Kushner Companies and managed by Westminster Management. Th ...
, Swansea Mall, North Dartmouth Mall, Springfield Town Center, and
Orlando Fashion Square Orlando Fashion Square is a split one-story, two-story indoor shopping mall located in Orlando, Florida. Opened in 1973, it features 79 stores in over one million square feet of shop space. The mall's anchor stores are Macy's, Floor & Decor, and Di ...
. Lebovitz spun off Arlen Shopping Center Group into
CBL & Associates CBL Properties (previously CBL & Associates, Inc., then CBL & Associates Properties, Inc.) is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers, primarily in the Southeastern and Midwestern United States. The company is ...
in 1978.


E.J. Korvette's

Arlen owned E. J. Korvette from 1971 to 1979, and used E. J. Korvette 50 stores as a source of cash flow. Under Arlen's ownership, Korvette's stores deteriorated and lost market share. Arlen sold the chain to the Agache‐Willot Group of France in 1979.


References

{{Reflist 1959 establishments in New York (state) Defunct real estate companies of the United States Real estate companies established in 1959