Get to know daniel...
Oct 8, 1971 – Born in Great Neck, New York
1980 – Got first major lesson in buying distressed assets when his father buys out local Carvel’s entire damaged ice cream stock (and all friends and family eat ice cream for a year)
1983 — Started doing odd jobs like packaging Penny Savers and shoveling snow for cash
1984 — With close friend Kurt Jacobs, started first ever business in PC 1 Driveway Sealers, a blacktopping company (and quickly learned owning your own business was the way to go)
1988 – As a compromise with Dad, applied to Baruch College, formerly CCNY (“the poor man’s Harvard”) rather than immediately trying to go into real estate
1989 – Got restless at Baruch College, transferred to SUNY Albany and settled into a business major and joined Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity
1990 — Got restless at SUNY Albany and decided to take a year abroad at Hebrew University in Jerusalem (which births a lifelong passion for art, culture and compelling stories)
1991 — Returned home to SUNY Albany with a Judaic Studies minor in tow and immediately switched majors to English (to keep the renaissance going)
1993 — Graduated from SUNY Albany, got a seedy job dialing for dollars selling chemicals on Long Island (and almost immediately quit said job)
1993 — Tried (and failed) to write the Next Great American Novel while living at parents’ house but managed to jot down some notes and poems during the journey
1994 — As a compromise with Dad, applied to The New York Law School rather than immediately trying to be an entrepreneur
1995 — Interned for NY State Supreme Court Judge Edward H. Lehner, met Donald Trump on the steps of his court and tried unsuccessfully to get a job from him (with the goal of leaving law school as quickly as possible)
1997 — Graduated from NY Law School with a C+ average, backdoored into Graham & James through a temp agency as a paralegal and climbed his way up working primarily in commercial mortgage-backed securities
1997 — Rejoiced after successfully passing the Bar Exam
1998 — Got restless at Graham & James, applied and accepted a job in securities at Nomura Holdings to learn from late-generation bond king Ethan Penner and put in notice at Graham & James
1998 — Got a lawyer to speak to Nomura Holdings about breach of contract after they eliminated his position before his first day
1998 — Successfully settled with Nomura Holdings for $18,000 and immediately used that money to start the first online commercial real estate brokerage of its kind in New York City: BuildingBrokers.com
1998 — Secured investment from First American Bank for $600,000 in exchange for 10 percent of the company (for a pre-money valuation of approximately $6,000,000)
Q2 1998 — Moved BuildingBrokers.com into the Lincoln Building across from Grand Central Station in Manhattan
2000 — Shuttered BuildingBrokers.com after failing to secure any material revenue or further capital investment amid the dot-com bust (eventually, his proudest failure)
2000 — Started as an attorney at Maidman & Mittelman LLP (after a brief sojourn to Club Med for some perspective)
2003 — Started Wilder Realty LLC and worked with Donald Trooien of Troystar to buy two land leases and build billboards on them in Chelsea
2003 — Rented billboards successfully, started collecting passive income of $9,000 in revenue a month (after splitting the checks evenly)
2003 — After unsuccessfully pitching a strategic alliance, split up the Wilder/Troystar sign business as amicably as possible
2003 — Looked for first true multi-family real estate deal and found it on 66 Chapel St in New Haven, Connecticut
2004 — Flipped 66 Chapel St for 275 percent profit, got recruited by Hartman & Craven LLP and gave notice at Maidman & Mittelman
2004 — Looked for a bigger multi-family opportunity and found it in “the Cage,” known as the worst, most crime-ridden property in New Haven, Connecticut (a triumph that was featured on NBC local with Brandon Rudat and later leveraged to secure new investment capital)
Nov 2004 — Got married in Miami Beach at the Royal Palm Hotel
2005 — Founded First Bronx LLC with best friend Ari Goldman to buy larger rental properties in the Bronx
Dec 2005 — Sold the newly renovated and renamed “Cage” property as Sherman Gardens for nearly one million dollars in profit
2006 — While working 35-40 client files, helping Hartman & Craven partners with their personal legal work and family affairs and juggling two gut renovations on properties in two states, got told in personal review that he was “a good attorney, but all over the place”
2007 — Syndicated second investment property in the Bronx with Ari on the heels of First Bronx, gave notice at Hartman & Craven
2007 — Began strategic partnership with credit hedge fund Archer Capital to pursue independent real estate development and investment full time
Late 2007 — Closed on White Plains Road, a full block retail investment in New York City (the only deal on which Archer and Wilder Realty came to consensus)
Jan 7, 2008 — Beautiful daughter Zohar born in Mount Sinai Hospital (for which Ari flew in from the Maldives to be first to congratulate)
Late 2008 — On the heels of the market crash, teamed up with best friend Harry Zubli to buy (by the skin of their teeth, at first) a series of distressed notes in New York City and discovered how incredibly profitable they could be; met Greg Freedman same year
2009 — Moved to Delray Beach in November with wife and first child and formed BH3 Management with Greg Freedman and Charlie Phelan; closed first inaugural Miami deal through BH3 one month later in Terra Beachside, a 117-unit busted condo project
2010 — Bought block of units at Fountainebleau in a short sale (and later held court there for business deals and sales in Miami)
Aug 6, 2011 — Second beautiful daughter Tamir born in Boca Raton Hospital
2013 — Met Gary Cohen and began talks about Privé, to be the crown jewel in Cohen’s family real estate portfolio (and a unique development opportunity)
2013-2017 — With partners, fought numerous legal battles against the city of Aventura and over 2,500 private homeowners for right to build Privé project and did so successfully (while pursuing numerous other commercial real estate investments)
2021 — Wrote and published The Art of the Real, reflecting on a lifetime of deal-making, friendship, art and adventure