Ben Shaoul

After he left school, he interned for a summer with a New York-based developer run by the Ohebshalom family, (also of Persian Jewish heritage).^[1][2] He oversaw the renovation of his father's property and later took out a mortgage on the building.^[1][2] In 1998, he and his parents co-founded Magnum Real Estate Group.^[6] In 1999, Shaoul used the proceeds from that mortgage to buy his first property, which was located on Mott Street in Nolita.^[1][7] Shaoul purchases buildings that have not been renovated for a long time and renovates them, and then increases the rent.^[1] He primarily focuses on the East Village has added luxury apartments on top existing buildings.^[1]

In 2013, Shaoul and Magnum Real Estate Group opened Bloom62, a luxury apartment building located in the East Village.^[4][8] Shaoul and Westbrook Partners sold a jointly-held investment portfolio of 17 properties for $130 million to Jared Kushner in February of that year.^[9] He later partnered with SL Green Realty to acquire properties in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.^[10] Shaoul also began developing a dormitory for the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan^[8][9][11] and ventured into Tribeca where he purchased the top 22 floors of the 32 story art-deco Verizon Building for conversion to condominiums.^[12][13] In July 2014, he purchased the 199-unit Post Toscana on the Upper East Side and the 138-unit Post Luminaria in Kips Bay for $270 million to convert into condominiums. Both buildings have soon-to-expire tax abatements thereafter exempting them from rent stabilization rules.^[14]

Shaoul has acquired and sold over 100 properties to include everything from the renovation of thousands of apartments to a $500M condominium conversion.^[15][16]

Shaoul is married to Megan Walsh Shaoul.^[2] They have three children: Henry, Piper, and Mayer.^[2] He has been criticized for contributing to the decline of rent-regulated apartments in the East Village.^[1] He was labeled "Sledgehammer Shaoul" after confronting tenants in a building he purchased and being photographed with construction workers holding sledgehammers and crowbars.^[1] In 2014, he was sued by his parents for using the proceeds from the refinancing of co-owned assets to fund his development projects.^[5][6] The dispute was later resolved.^[17]