GROWTH: REAL ESTATE
Population growth and job formation are critical aspects of any community’s economic success. When these combine with infrastructure and technology, houses and jobs result. Dreams are built. This is what took place in Central Florida after WWII. And as Central Florida prospered, so did the Central Florida Jewish community.
In a few short years, construction boomed, spurred on by the advent of the Martin Company, the completion of Interstate 4, a new university, the Naval Training Center and soon the Walt Disney World Resort, Sea World and Universal Studios. Housing was needed, which brought more Jews to Central Florida as builders and developers.
What had once been a sleepy backwater town had become one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, fastest growing regions and a hotbed of real estate development.
Abe and Zelig Wise in one of their model homes, c. 1950.
The twin brothers were born in Chattanooga, TN, in 1922. Abe Wise came to Orlando with his parents in 1946, after serving in the army in WWII, and started a real estate and construction company. Zelig joined him shortly after, and they formed Wise Brothers Inc. Together they built housing for the military, then branched out into creating neighborhoods, investing in land, and building industrial warehouses. Abe was also a president of the Homebuilders Association and served on the Orlando Planning and Zoning Commission. Both have passed away.
Daniel Wise
Abe and Zelig Wise used this ad to promote their “completely air conditioned” homes in the early 1960s.
Daniel Wise
This early plat of lots formed a portion of the Palomar neighborhood that was developed by brothers Abe and Zelig Wise, c. 1960.
Daniel Wise
Jewish Palomar residents reunite to celebrate and remember their neighborhood, August 29, 2016.
In 1955, Abe and Zelig Wise developed a new Orlando subdivision. Located at the intersection of Maury Road and Neptune Drive in College Park, coined “The Golden Ghetto,” it soon became the most popular address for Central Florida Jewish families. More than 50 Jewish families bought lots and built homes on Neptune Drive, Arthur Street, Anchor Court, Anchor Way, Lake Sarah Drive, Lake Daniel Drive, Wilder Lane, Webster Street and Delridge Avenue. Floor L-R: David Bornstein, Alan Altshuler, Rhonda Pearlman, Craig Pearlman, Robin Katzman, Paula Rossman, Marcy (Schiff) Brown, Debra Bein Michaud, Karen (Langfur) Broussard, Judy (Schiff) Kahan Davis, Andrea (Tresser) Burke; On the far right: Paula (Weinreich) Canchester; Second row L-R: Dr. Howard Oser, Harry Rein, Lester Mandell, Sonia Mandell, Ira Daitzman, Sheldon Green, Tess Wise, Robert Geller, Zena Schiff, Marion Daitzman; Third row L-R: Steve Oser, Myrna Newman, Rhea Rein, Rikki Hanin, Barbara Weinreich, Malka Webman, Susan Geller, Todd Kobrin, Phil Kobrin, Rosalie Levy, Lynn Daitzman Fenster, Mark Fenster; Fourth row L-R: Cheryl Hanin, Elise (Levy) Bloom, Nancy Rossman, Charles Geller, Lynn (Pearlman) Minkow, Scott Kramer, Judy (Behn) Suberman, Arlene (Safer) van de Rijn, Debra Webman, Harvey Kobrin, Neil Webman, Laurie Shader Smith; Fifth row L-R: David Meltzer, Martin Schiff, Robert Cohen, Ron Suberman, Marvin Newman, Marc Brenner, Mark Lang, Ellen (Wise) Lang, Don Altshuler, Jeff Golub; Standing on left, front to back: Alison (Mandell) Knapp, Bob Mandell and Stuart Kramer
Peter Burg
Harvey Kobrin in his office as president, 1970.
Kobrin Builders Supply was founded in 1955 by Jack and Sara Kobrin. In 1959, their son Philip joined the company and Harvey, another son, joined in 1962, after graduating from the University of Florida. When Jack passed away in 1974, Harvey took over the business, committed to the same uncompromising integrity as his parents. He expanded it to become the largest supplier of drywall in the southern United States. The company was sold in 2013 to Foundation Building Materials.
Harvey Kobrin
Long-time friends, community leaders and business partners in real estate, Hy Lake (far right) presents a community award to Lester and Sonia Mandell, 1980.
Hy Lake’s first business was selling shoelaces and shopping bags alongside his mother and her pushcart in the streets of Chicago. After serving as mayor of North Bay Village in Dade County, Lake began buying and selling land. In south Orange County, he bought his first two acres—a cow field—in 1956. His second land purchase what his wife Harriett called a “hopeless swamp” off Turkey Lake Road became his first big sale. The land became part of the Lockheed Martin site. Later, with Lester Mandell, he developed Sky Lake, an enormously successful subdivision off Orange Blossom Trail in Orlando.
Heritage Florida Jewish News
Groundbreaking ceremony for a new subdivision Greater Hills, 1988.
Greater Construction Corp. has been one of the most productive homebuilders in Central Florida since its 1965 inception. Lester Mandell, his uncle Lester Zimmerman and Jack Lazar formed Greater. Zimmerman’s background was in marketing and advertising. Mandell had been in construction since he left the Army in 1945. Developers of the Springs, a planned community in Seminole County, they were among the first builders along State Road 434. Greater later branched into commercial and utilities development, building the Greater Mall in Casselberry and Sanlando Utilities. Greater has built more than 14,000 homes in 25 communities throughout Central Florida. L-R: Lake County Commissioner Don Bailey, Lester Mandell, Bob Mandell, Lake County Commission Chairman Chick Gregg, Lester Zimmerman, unknown and Lake County Commissioner Tom Windram
Bob Mandell
Rossman and Goodman, owners of Bel-Aire Homes, as community leaders, 1969.
Norman Rossman moved to Central Florida in 1952. With Bill Goodman he formed Bel-Aire Homes in 1965, one of Orlando’s most successful homebuilders. Bel Aire was the original developer for the 3,400-acre Tuscawilla community in Winter Springs. Rossman helped develop the 1,200-acre Spring Oaks subdivision in Altamonte Springs and the Gatlin Grove subdivision in Orange County. In 1977, Rossman helped form Residential Communities of America, which built and sold 10,000 houses by 1981. He later became president of BP Development Management Corp., which focused on developing shopping centers. Norman and Marlene Rossman had three daughters: Paula, Ruth and Nancy. Ruth and Nancy work in PRN Real Estate and Investments that Rossman established in the 1970s. L-R: Norman Rossman, unknown, Bill Goodman, Gloria Goodman
Lauren Goodman
Bel-Aire Homes ad features Lauren Goodman as a child, 1962.
Bill and Gloria Goodman came to Orlando from Detroit in 1957 to retire from a building career. They immediately discovered a housing shortage. Seeing this, Bill soon joined with Norman Rossman, a transplant from Miami Beach who had come to Orlando to pursue his direct mail advertising business. They formed Bel-Aire Homes, and, in 16 years, they built about 10,000 houses in Central Florida. Bel-Aire was sold to Gulfstream Homes in 1973. This 1962 ad featured Lauren Goodman, who “grew up” and graduated from the University of Miami Law School in 1976 when only 5 percent of the class was female.
Orlando Sentine
L-R: Mark and Sy Israel celebrate the 50th anniversary of Universal Engineering Sciences, 2014.
In 1964, Sy Israel started his environmental engineering company by inspecting the bottom of septic tanks in Merritt Island. That humble beginning became Universal Engineering Sciences, the largest family-owned geotechnical company in the country. The company consistently ranks in the Orlando Business Journal’s “Golden 100” top privately-held Central Florida companies. The company provides geotechnical engineering, construction material testing, building inspection and plan review, threshold inspection and drilling services to the real estate and construction industries. The Israels also have been one of the major Jewish philanthropic families in Central Florida.
Universal Engineering
In his orange grove, Jerry Bornstein inspects a “rocket heater,” a device he helped invent to keep the groves warm during freezes, 1962.
While known as a local attorney and civil rights activist, Jerry Bornstein was also a real estate developer and citrus grove owner. This photo features his “rocket heater” in the 1960s, but after the freezes of 1983 and 1984, he had to decide between replanting, selling or developing his groves. With nearly 1,000 acres less than 10 minutes from the Walt Disney World Resort, Bornstein chose to develop large-scale residential communities. Taking the name POLO from the initials of Polk, Osceola, Lake and Orange Counties in the Four Corners area, he developed Polo Park, jumpstarting what became the fastest growing region of Central Florida from 1985–2005. He developed and sold more than 2,500 homes.
David Bornstein
Charles Schwartz, founder, Avanti Properties Group, 1979.
Schwartz created what may be one of the nation’s most successful underthe radar real estate businesses. In 1977, he moved to Orlando from Montreal, and with Canadian investors, began buying apartment buildings. After selling that business to a Texas syndicate, he and partner Donald Loeb began to buy land before developers, hold it and sell later at a significant profit. That concept became Avanti Properties Group, which raises money from individuals and philanthropic and endowment funds, and buys land across the US. Today Avanti, spearheaded by Loeb, Marvin Shapiro and Andrew Dubill, is in its eighth fund of several hundred million dollars.
Roz Ettinger Fuchs
Alan Ginsburg, real estate developer and founder of The CED Companies, 2008.
Ginsburg has been involved in the real estate business for more than 43 years, developing affordable housing in several states. In his native state of Michigan, he worked for companies that developed apartment projects in the Midwest and Florida. After moving to Florida in 1981, he founded The CED Companies, which specialize in building multifamily communities. CED has built more than 40,000 affordable apartment units acrossthe United States.
Florida Hospital
Joshua Wallack, Skyplex Orlando developer, speaks at a Jewish Community Center luncheon, 2015.
Wallack is the developer and chief operating officer of Mango’s Tropical Café, a nightclub and restaurant on International Drive in Orlando. He is also managing partner of Skyplex, a $500 million project designed to have a 501-foot Skyscraper roller coaster, a 450-foot Skyfall drop tower, a 600-foot Skyfly zip line, a Skysurf park and a 350-room hotel, all built in and around the SkyPlaza retail, entertainment and dining center. The project will open in phases beginning in 2018 at the corner of International Drive and Sand Lake Road in Orlando.
The Roth Family Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando Archives