Elie Hirschfeld is so much a part of the Big Apple that some might say his heart beats in time with the never-ending energy of New York. Elie owns more than one million square feet of commercial office space in New York — including approximately 570K square feet leased in West Chelsea to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency — as well as more than 1,000 apartments.
September of this year, Hirschfeld Properties purchased the triplex penthouse on top of the Marquand building and the Yorkville building with 40 units on the upper East Side. They spent a combined $60 million plus on those two purchases.
Though real estate is where he’s built a lot of his assets he also went to law school at New York University, later becoming a real estate attorney. With all that going on in real estate, he could be forgiven if he kept to that arena, but not so with Hirschfeld.
Beyond Real Estate
Hirschfeld is also an art collector. His collection includes a diverse range of artists, from renowned abstract painter Frank Stella to street art star Keith Haring. He especially likes works depicting the city he loves and life there. Some of those artworks include Karel Appel’s work, “Untitled,” “Gingko Trees in Central Park” by Francoise Gilot, and “Brooklyn Bridge” by Andy Warhol.
All of that doesn’t stop him from being a Broadway producer and Tony Award voting member of The Broadway League. Additional theater and film production credits are noted on IMDB and Playbill.
Topping those achievements, he’s a philanthropist: he started a charity known as the Hirschfeld Foundation, which focuses on supporting athletics, healthcare, education, and Jewish causes. Hirschfeld also serves as director of Weizmann Institute of Science’s U.S. board, trustee emeritus of Brown University, as well as trustee for several New York City Hospitals. There are also other boards and steering committees where he’s given service such as the Jewish National Fund.
Personal
In 2011, he married Dr. Sarah J. Schlesinger, an associate professor of clinical investigation at Rockefeller University, as well as a physician and researcher. She focuses her research energy on the immune system and finding ways to induce the human immune system to heal itself using dendritic cells to treat conditions such as cancer or HIV.
Mr. Hirschfeld has completed more than 100 triathlons, hitting his international high point in 2015 as he placed fourth in the AJ Bell London Triathlon.
In January of this year, Hirschfeld and Sarah traveled to Rome and met with the Pope at the Great Synagogue of Rome, representing Rabbi Arthur Schneier from the Park East Synagogue in New York City. Though he rented a $38 million estate in the Hamptons to the Clintons for a couple of summers, he’s worked deals with Donald Trump in real estate development.
Maybe the personal section of this article gives the best picture of the man’s diversity. He’s physically active, well-educated, well-married, and knows the top politicians and movers and shakers.
Quite simply, the man is a great real estate executive, philanthropist and athlete – Elie Hirschfeld is truly a dynamo.