{"id":2585,"date":"2020-04-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=2585"},"modified":"2020-06-12T15:03:09","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T15:03:09","slug":"stanley-chera-real-estate-developer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=2585","title":{"rendered":"Stanley Chera, real estate developer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Stanley Isaac Chera–an American real estate developer and founder of Crown Acquisitions \u2011 died on April 11, 2020 due to complications brought on by COVID-19.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Chera was born in 1942 in Brooklyn to a Syrian Jewish family. In 1947, his father Isaac Chera opened a retail store called Young World in Brooklyn, New York. The family later purchased the building and grew Young World into a chain purchasing the buildings as they expanded.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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In the 1980s, Chera (then in charge of the family company) started purchasing real estate in New York City at first as a minority partner and later in 2000s as the lead developer. Chera was known for developing or "repositioning" the retail portion of his buildings and then selling the property.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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In a joint venture with The Carlyle Group and Charles Kushner, Chera sold the retail portion of 666 Fifth Avenue in two transactions for more than $1 billion; and also the retail portion of the St. Regis Hotel in a joint venture with Lloyd Goldman and Jeffrey Feil for $380 million. In 2010, he began the restoration of The Knickerbocker Hotel in Manhattan. In 2012, Chera purchased 49.9% interest in a four-building Fifth Avenue portfolio that included the Olympic Tower for $1 billion from the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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In June 2013, Chera purchased 650 Madison Avenue for $1.3 billion in partnership with Highgate Holdings from the Carlyle Group. He was an investor in the One World Trade Center and accumulated a lot of property in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Crown is also a prominent investor (along with Albert Laboz, Joseph Jemal, and Eli Gindi) in the Fulton Mall in Brooklyn. Chera had a conservative investment strategy borrowing no more than 25 to 35% of the purchase price given that they are long term holders in assets. In 2009, Crown held 15 million square feet of real estate in New York City.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Chera and his wife Frieda, nicknamed "Cookie", had three sons: Isaac "Ike" Chera, Haim Chera, and Richard Chera, all active in the family business. Chera was a leader in the Brooklyn Sephardic Jewish community. Chera was an associate and friend of Donald Trump, and donated to the Trump Victory Committee.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Chera was hospitalized for an unknown illness in March 2020 and later tested positive for COVID-19. Prior to his hospitalization, he had relocated to his home in Deal, New Jersey. Chera entered a coma the following week and died on April 11, 2020. His wife also contracted the virus, but recovered.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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President Trump, in a recent Fox News interview, described Chera's death as having a high impact on his thinking:<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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"I’ve lost three friends. One, a very good friend, a very successful man, New York guy, employed a lot of people that were all crying over his death. Stanley Chera. He went to the hospital, he calls me up. He goes, “I tested positive.” I said, “Well, what are you going to do?” He said, “I’m going to the hospital. I’ll call you tomorrow.” He didn’t call. I call the hospital, he’s in a coma. Now, I know a lot of people that had the flu, they were never in a coma."<\/p>\r\n<\/p>

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<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stanley Isaac Chera–an American real estate developer and founder of Crown Acquisitions \u2011 died on April 11, 2020 due to complications brought on by COVID-19.   Chera was born in 1942 in Brooklyn to a Syrian Jewish family. In 1947, his father Isaac Chera opened a retail store called Young World in Brooklyn, New York. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[47,7019,15],"tags":[4048,4051,4050,4049,4047],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/wp-content\/uploads\/imageholder\/uploads\/Stanley_Chera.png?fit=%2C&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3070,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=3070","url_meta":{"origin":2585,"position":0},"title":"Romi Cohn, rabbi, mohel & real estate developer","date":"March 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Romi Cohn \u2013a Czechoslovakian-born American rabbi, mohel, and real estate developer \u2013 died after contracting coronavirus on March 24, 2020. \u00a0 Avraham Hakohen Cohn was born on March 10, 1929 in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. 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