From Taxi Driver to Real Estate Mogul

From hack to mogul:
David Edelstein (not the film critic)

David Edelstein--the president of TriStar Capital LLC, a leading New York City-based real estate firm that supposedly recently purchased the Chelsea hotel, according to Curbed.com--started out as a Manhattan cab driver, according to this New York Daily News article.

An ex-cab driver who grew up in Bayside, Edelstein borrowed $15,000 in 1981 from a Queens bookie to buy his first building. He paid $75,000 for a five-story walk up on 85th St. and First Ave. owned by two older Italian ladies.

Taxi driving was a night job. He picked up the cab near Shea Stadium. Pocketing $120 per shift, Edelstein learned the city of the late 1970s cold. He watched Amsterdam Ave. from 70th to 80th St. go from drug den to 20-story residential buildings as the city used tax incentives to escape a recession some say was worse than now.

By day, he worked as a real estate canvasser for Nehring Brothers, a Washington Heights-based management company who bought and sold properties. He made $75 per week plus commission going door-to-door meeting building owners. His territory was 59th to 96th St. from Lexington Ave. to the East River. ... READ REST

I love these stories that prove the American Dream is still alive and well.