{{Short description|German-American real estate developer (born 1960)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Aby Rosen | image = Aby Rosen, 2007 (cropped).jpg | caption = Rosen in 2007 | imagesize = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1960|5|16}} | birth_place = Frankfurt, West Germany | birth_name = | education = Wolfgang Goethe University | occupation = Real estate investor/developer }} '''Aby Rosen''' (born May 16, 1960) is a German and American real estate and hospitality tycoon living in New York City. He co-founded RFR Holding, which owns a portfolio of 93 properties valued over $15.5 billion in cities including New York City, Miami, Las Vegas, and Tel Aviv. Highlights include the Seagram Building, W South Beach, The Jaffa Tel Aviv, Gramercy Park Hotel, Paramount Hotel, and Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, among other properties. Rosen is also a member of, a founding investor in, and the landlord of the CORE Club in New York.<ref>[http://www.rfr.com/propertymanagement/all-asset "RFR Properties"]</ref>
Rosen is a noted collector of modern and contemporary art, owning more than 800 postwar pieces, including 100-plus works by Andy Warhol. His collection includes pieces by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Alexander Calder, Damien Hirst, Richard Prince and Jeff Koons.<ref name=artnews>[http://www.artnews.com/2013/07/09/the-2013-artnews-200-top-collectors/5/ ''ArtNews'': "200 Top Collectors 2013"]</ref>
==Early life== Rosen was born in Frankfurt, West Germany, in 1960, the son of Jewish Holocaust survivors.<ref name=NYT1>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01EEDD153EF937A2575BC0A9639C8B63 ''The New York Times'': "SQUARE FEET: THE INTERVIEW – WITH ABY ROSEN; A Taste for Timing, And Confrontational Art" By TERI KARUSH ROGERS], August 14, 2005</ref> His mother, Anni, spent World War II hiding in a Belgian farmhouse, while his father, Isak, was held in concentration camps in Germany and occupied Poland.<ref name=NYT1 /> After the war, Anni became a painter and Isak a real estate developer.<ref name=NYT1 /> Rosen attended local schools before going to Goethe University Frankfurt, where he graduated with a business degree. His parents moved to Israel by the 1990s, living in Tel Aviv.
==Career== In 1987 Rosen moved to New York City. He apprenticed at a real estate brokerage firm selling properties to German investors.<ref name=NYT1 />
===Real estate holdings=== In 1991 he founded the partnership RFR Holding LLC with his childhood friend Michael Fuchs, also a son of Holocaust survivors. The real estate market was in a downturn at the time, but they had access to capital, initially using properties they owned in Germany as collateral. Their strategy was to purchase large, vacant office buildings in need of an upgrade and then refurbish them to high standards.<ref name=NYT1 /> In the 15 years after RFR Holding was established in 1991, Rosen acquired a large portfolio of office buildings, including the Seagram Building, purchased for $375 million from the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association in 2000,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/12/nyregion/on-park-avenue-another-trophy-changes-hands.html|title = On Park Avenue, Another Trophy Changes Hands|newspaper = The New York Times|date = October 12, 2000|last1 = Bagli|first1 = Charles V.}}</ref> and Lever House.
In 2006 Rosen partnered with Ian Schrager, a longtime friend and co-founder of Studio 54, to transform the 123-year-old Gramercy Park Hotel with minimalist architect John Pawson. In 2014, they put the hotel on the market for $260 million, after completing a four-year, $200 million renovation.<ref name="Grammercy2014">{{cite news|last1=Maurer|first1=Mark|title=Aby Rosen, Michael Fuchs put Gramercy Park Hotel on market|url=https://therealdeal.com/2014/10/27/aby-rosen-michael-fuchs-put-gramercy-park-hotel-on-market/|access-date=March 7, 2017|work=The Real Deal New York|date=October 27, 2014}}</ref>
In 2006 Rosen announced plans to develop the site at 610 Lexington Avenue in NYC (directly behind the Seagram Building) into a glass hotel and condominium tower to be designed by Sir Norman Foster.
===Lever House Art Collection=== [[File:Lever House by David Shankbone.jpg|thumb|Lever House]]
The Lever House Art Collection is a collection of works commissioned by Rosen for display at the Lever House. It is curated by Richard Marshall, an art historian and associate curator for the Whitney Museum. The Lever House Art Collection was inaugurated in 2004 featuring a work by Jorge Pardo. Other works have included ''Bride Fight'' by E.V. Day, ''Hulks'' by Jeff Koons, and ''Hello Kitty'' by Tom Sachs.
===Outside the United States=== Rosen and Fuchs hold a large real estate portfolio in Germany, especially in Frankfurt. In early 2007, they bought the headquarters building of the European Central Bank. The company also owns the Swift Haus Jungfernstieg in Hamburg.
==Other activities== * Phillips, de Pury and Company, Member of the Advisory Board (since 2005).<ref>Daniel Grant (November 8, 2005), [https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/eclectic-advisory-board-is-a-first-for-phillips-1901/ Eclectic Advisory Board Is a First for Phillips] ''ARTnews''.</ref>
==Personal life== Rosen has been married twice. In 1991, he married Elizabeth Mina Wechsler in a Jewish ceremony at The Pierre in Manhattan.<ref name=NYTWechslerWedding>[https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/18/style/ms-wechsler-has-wedding.html New York Times: "Ms. Wechsler Has Wedding"] November 18, 1991</ref> Before their separation in 2000 and divorce in 2004, they have two sons.<ref name=NYMAG>[http://nymag.com/news/features/44455/ ''New York Magazine'': "The Art and the Deal" By Phoebe Eaton] February 24, 2008</ref>
In 2005 Rosen married Samantha Boardman, a psychiatrist and socialite.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/03/fashion/weddings/03sboa.html New York Times: "Samantha Boardman and Aby Rosen"] July 3, 2005</ref><ref>[http://velvetroper.com/2012/04/mr-meister-and-the-misfit/ New York Observer: "Mr. Meister and The Misfit" by Daniel Edward Rosen] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140922101736/http://velvetroper.com/2012/04/mr-meister-and-the-misfit/ |date=September 22, 2014 }} April 4, 2012</ref><ref name=NYMAG /> She converted to Judaism.<ref name=NYMAG /> They have two children.<ref name=NYMAG /> ===Personal residences=== [[File:A. Conger Goodyear House, Old Westbury N.Y.jpeg|thumb|right|Rosen's 1938 Goodyear House in Old Westbury, New York]] Rosen resides on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with his wife and their two children. The family summers in Southampton, New York,<ref name=NYMAG /> where they have a $21.5 million home.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/who-lives-on-meadow-lane-southampton-2015-5|title=Meet the rich and powerful people who live on 'Billionaire Lane' in the Hamptons|website=Business Insider }}</ref>
In 2011 Rosen bought the A. Conger Goodyear House in Old Westbury, New York on Long Island for $3.4 million.<ref name="Galante2011">{{cite news|last1=Galante|first1=Meredith|title=Real Estate Mogul Aby Rosen Just Bought This Famous Glass House On Long Island|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/aby-rosen-buys-a-conger-goodyear-house-2011-10|access-date=March 7, 2017|work=Business Insider|date=October 20, 2011|language=en}}</ref> The house was designed and built in 1938 by Edward Durell Stone in the International Style for Anson Conger Goodyear, the first president of the Museum of Modern Art.<ref name="NYTObit">{{cite news|title=A. Conger Goodyear, 86, Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/04/24/a-conger-goodyear-86-dies.html|access-date=September 14, 2015|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 24, 1964}}</ref><ref>Alex Hoyt, [http://www.architectmagazine.com/architecture/esto-gallery--conger-goodyear-house.aspx "A. Conger Goodyear House: A Look at an Edward Durell Stone House on Long Island That Narrowly Avoided Demolition"], ''Architect magazine'', November 17, 2011</ref> Rosen completed a several-year renovation of the property.<ref name="Medford2016">{{cite news|last1=Medford|first1=Sarah|title=Aby Rosen Restores a Modernist Landmark in Old Westbury|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/aby-rosen-restores-a-modernist-landmark-in-old-westbury-1480348616|access-date=March 7, 2017|work=The Wall Street Journal|date=November 28, 2016}}</ref> He keeps many of his important pieces of art there, including ''The Virgin Mother'',<ref name="Reginato2015">{{cite news|last1=Reginato|first1=James|title=Raising The Bar on Sotheby's Blog|url=http://www.sothebys.com/en/news-video/blogs/all-blogs/sotheby-s-magazine--june---july-2015/2015/05/aby-rosen-raising-the-bar.html|access-date=March 7, 2017|work=Sotheby's|date=May 19, 2015|language=en|archive-date=March 8, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308135059/http://www.sothebys.com/en/news-video/blogs/all-blogs/sotheby-s-magazine--june---july-2015/2015/05/aby-rosen-raising-the-bar.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> a 13-ton, 33-foot-high bronze sculpture by Damien Hirst of a pregnant woman with peeled skin and an exposed fetus.<ref>{{cite web | author = Wired NY Staff | date = February 22, 2017 | title = Damien Hirst: Virgin Mother | url = http://www.wirednewyork.com/art/damien_hirst_virgin_mother.jpg | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081219112115/http://www.wirednewyork.com/art/damien_hirst_virgin_mother.jpg | url-status = dead | archive-date = December 19, 2008 | access-date = February 22, 2017 }}</ref>
Rosen is reported to own a $36 million vacation home in Saint Barthélemy.<ref name="New York Magazine">[http://nymag.com/nymag/features/44455/index4.html ''New York Magazine'': "How Aby Rosen Brokered the Marriage Between Art and Real Estate"]</ref>
Rosen holds an annual dinner party at the W South Beach during Art Basel, attended by a mix of celebrities and business leaders.<ref name=WWD>[http://www.wwd.com/eye/parties/aby-rosen-holds-annual-art-basel-dinner-7302829 ''Women's Wear Daily'': "Aby Rosen Holds Annual Art Basel Dinner"]</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
===Sources=== * {{cite news|first=Michael |last=Calderone |title=The Bond Street Boys |date=January 16, 2006 |url=http://www.ianschragercompany.com/PRINT_BSBoys.html |work=The New York Observer |access-date=February 1, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060831024914/http://www.ianschragercompany.com/PRINT_BSBoys.html |archive-date=August 31, 2006 |url-status=live }} * {{cite news | first=Alix | last=Browne | title=Agents Provocateurs | date=March 5, 2006 | url =https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/05/magazine/305style.1.html?ex=1170392400&en=8f66c28b6ac7424f&ei=5070 | work =The New York Times | access-date = February 1, 2007 }} * {{cite news|first=Carol |last=Vogel |title=National Gallery Enriched by Gift |date=May 7, 2004 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/07/arts/design/07INSI.html?ex=1170392400&en=de49e8ddad510df0&ei=5070 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090903055310/http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/07/arts/design/07INSI.html?ex=1170392400&en=de49e8ddad510df0&ei=5070 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 3, 2009 |work=The New York Times |access-date=February 1, 2007 }} * {{cite news | first=Teri | last=Karush Rogers | title=A Taste for Timing, and Confrontational Art | date=August 14, 2005 | url =https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/14/realestate/14sqft.html?ei=5088&en=d31c4db85c550216&ex=1281672000&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all | work =The New York Times | access-date = February 1, 2007 }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosen, Aby}} Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:Businesspeople from Frankfurt Category:American people of German-Jewish descent Category:American businesspeople in the real estate industry Category:Emigrants from West Germany to the United States Category:20th-century German Jews Category:American art collectors Category:Jewish art collectors Category:21st-century American Jews