Isaac Hager is an American

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. R ...

who founded the

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 ...

-based Cornell Realty Management.

Biography

Isaac "Itzy" Hager was born in the 1970s and belongs to the Vizhnitz Hasidic Jewish community based in

Williamsburg, Brooklyn Williamsburg is a Neighborhoods in Brooklyn, neighborhood in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Bedford–Stuyvesant to the s ...

. The grandson of Rabbi

Mordechai Hager Rabbi Mordechai Hager (14 July 1922 (18 Tammuz 5682) - 16 March 2018 (29 Adar 5778), he, מרדכי הגר; yi, האגער) was the Admor of Vizhnitz Hasidic sect for 46 years, and had a following of tens of thousands of chassidim. Biog ...

, he was raised in the small

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

Kaser, New York Kaser is a village in the town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States. The village is completely surrounded by the hamlet of Monsey. As of the 2020 United States census, the village population was 5,491. Kaser is a village with a ...

founded by his grandfather. In the 1990s, he moved to Willamsburg, where he worked for a packaging equipment company before partnering with diamond trader and real estate developer, Chaim Lax (father of

Moshe Lax Moshe Lax is an American businessman from New York, known for his legal problems and his business association with Ivanka Trump. Personal life and education Lax grew up in Brooklyn as the only son of the noted diamond dealer, real estate develo ...

) in the 2000s. Their real estate development firm, North Development Group, built several high rises in then low-rise North Williamsburg which were very successful. After the death of Lax, Hager had difficulty obtaining financing for legacy obligations of their partnership and filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

in 2009 eventually selling his existing portfolio to Louis Kestenbaum's Fortis Property Group,

Xinyuan Real Estate Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd. () is a Chinese real estate company. Xinyuan has traditionally engaged principally in residential real estate development and the provision of property management services, focusing on Tier II cities in China. His ...

, and

Joseph Chetrit Joseph Chetrit is an American real estate investor and developer and founder of the Chetrit Group. Early life Chetrit was born to a Jewish family in Morocco to Simon and Alice Chetrit.Tom Acitelli"Joseph Chetrit, the Most Mysterious Big Shot i ...

's Chetrit Group. After the recession of the 1990s, Hager re-established his firm under the Cornell Realty Management name. Taking a more conservative approach to development by partnering with larger players - such as Hudson Realty Capital, Madison Realty Capital and L&L Capital Partners - and using funds raised in the Hasidic community, he has been able to rebuild his business. Since 2017, he has faced opposition from activists when he proposed building a 565-unit apartment complex in

Crown Heights, Brooklyn Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Crown Heights is bounded by Washington Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue to the north, Ralph Avenue to the east, and Empire Boulevard/East New Yo ...

; in April 2019, a judge issued a

restraining order A restraining order or protective order, is an order used by a court to protect a person in a situation involving alleged domestic violence, child abuse, assault, harassment, stalking, or sexual assault. Restraining and personal protection or ...

against the project. His company, along with city councilwoman

Laurie Cumbo Laurie A. Cumbo (born February 4, 1975) is an American politician and Commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. A Democrat, she served in the New York City Council for the 35th district from 2014 to 2021, which includes th ...

, are

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one jurisdic ...

s in a case about the controversial

rezoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...

near the

Brooklyn Botanical Garden Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) is a botanical garden in the borough of Brooklyn, New York City. It was founded in 1910 using land from Mount Prospect Park in central Brooklyn, adjacent to Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Museum. The garden holds ...

that would allow for oversize towers to be built there. Along with fellow Hasidic developers Simon Dushinsky, Yoel Goldman, and

Joel Schreiber Joel Schreiber is a British-born American real estate developer, investor, and founder of Waterbridge Capital. Biography Schreiber was born to a Hasidic Jewish family in London. He moved to New York City and in 2000 - with the help of his famil ...

, he is considered a prolific real estate developer in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Personal life

He is married to Shifra Hager.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hager, Isaac American Orthodox Jews American real estate businesspeople Businesspeople from New York City Vizhnitz (Hasidic dynasty) members Living people People from Williamsburg, Brooklyn Year of birth missing (living people)