David Walentas
New York, New York
Bachelor of Arts/Science, University of Virginia
United States
10
real estate, Self Made
$2,400,000,000
962
2
#962 Billionaires 2019
#344 Forbes 400 2018
David Walentas founded Two Trees Management, which is best known for transforming two Brooklyn neighborhoods, Dumbo and Williamsburg.Walentas owns 20 residential and commercial properties across Dumbo, Brooklyn Heights, Williamsburg and Manhattan.In the 1970s he borrowed $12 million to buy 2 million square feet of industrial buildings in an unpopular part of Brooklyn that later became Dumbo.He acquired the Domino Sugar refinery's 11 acres in Brooklyn for $185.5 million in 2012 and is remaking it; the first tower opened in 2017.Walentas works closely with his son Jed, who became CEO of Two Trees in 2011.
Walentas grew up poor in Rochester, New York, milking cows and shoveling manure at a farm.He was kicked out of Navy ROTC at the University of Virginia for "raising some hell" with a lady. He eventually became the first college graduate in his family.
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