The Closing: Donald Zucker
Donald Zucker is the founder of the Donald Zucker Company, a Midtown-based firm that builds, buys and manages apartment and retail properties. The company, which started as a mortgage brokerage in 1961, has since developed nearly 30 buildings — a mix of rental, condo, co-op and retail — and acquired roughly 3,000 additional apartments. Zucker’s largest ground-up projects include the 35-story rental tower Rivergate, which he sold in 2011 for $443.4 million. His 300-person firm has recently gone on a buying spree of net-leased retail properties housing banks and McDonald’s restaurants along the East Coast. Zucker, who serves on the Real Estate Board of New York’s executive committee, is one of the top political donors in the industry. He was a full-time adviser on construction to then mayor Ed Koch and served as chair of the School Construction Authority under then mayor Rudy Giuliani.
