Chaim Schochet
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Chaim Schochet | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1986 or 1987 (age 38–39)[1] |
| Education | B.A. Rabbinical College of America |
| Occupation | Real estate executive |
| Known for | Executive of Optima Ventures |
| Spouse | Rachel Schochet |
| Children | 3 |
Chaim Schochet (born 1986/87) is an American real estate executive, developer, and manager at Optima Ventures, once the largest holder of real estate in Downtown Cleveland.
Schochet was born to a Jewish family in Miami Beach, Florida,[1] He attended the Rabbinical College of America in Miami, New York City, and Toronto where he graduated with a degree in Judaic studies in 2006.[1]
Optima
After spending a year in Singapore traveling and volunteering, he returned to Florida and accepted a job at Optima Ventures, a real estate investment firm 1/3 owned by Optima International of Miami (co-founded by Schochet's brother-in-law Mordechai "Motti" Korf and Uri Laber), and 2/3 owned by the principals of the Privat Group, one of Ukraine's largest business and banking groups[1] founded by oligarchs Hennadiy Boholyubov and Ihor Kolomoyskyi. Korf and Laber owned 7% of the shares in PrivatBank Latvia,[2] a majority-owned subsidiary of PrivatBank headquartered in Ukraine.
As investment executive of Optima Ventures, Schochet presided over the acquisition of a number of properties in Cleveland, Ohio including One Cleveland Center (purchased for $86.3 million in 2008);[3][4] 55 Public Square (purchased for $34 million in 2008);[3] the Huntington Bank Building (purchased for $18.5 million in 2010);[5][6] and the Penton Media Building (purchased for $46.5 million in 2010).[7] In September 2011, Optima purchased PNC Plaza in Louisville, Kentucky for $77 million.[8] In October 2011, Optima entered its first joint venture, buying the 472-room Crowne Plaza Cleveland City Centre hotel with Sage Hospitality Resources, a hotel developer and manager based in Colorado.[9] In September 2014, Schochet proposed a $231 million renovation of the Huntington Bank Building, the second largest office building in the city, into a mixed-used facility combining offices, apartments, condominiums and a boutique hotel;[10] the renovation did not come to fruition and Optima sold the building to Hudson Holdings LLC for $22 million in 2015.[11] He has also made acquisitions outside of Cleveland including the 2008 purchase of the 1.5 million square foot former Motorola manufacturing facility in Harvard, Illinois.[12][13]
As of 2012, Optima Ventures owned more than 5 million square feet of real estate in the United States[1] and was the largest holder of real estate in Downtown Cleveland surpassing Forest City Enterprises.[1] Schochet describes himself as: "a long-term investor interested in any property that produces a healthy income."[14]