David Bistricer

David Bistricer (born August 10, 1949) is a New York-based real estate developer and the founder and principal of Clipper Equity. His firm focuses on the conversion of non-residential buildings to residential uses.

Early life and education Bistricer was born in Brussels, Belgium to an Orthodox Jewish family, the son of Moric and Elsa Bistricer. His mother was a prisoner at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany during World War II while his father hid from the Nazis in Budapest. Currently the complex is 97% occupied and considered a highly desirable place to reside.

In 2006, Bistricer founded Clipper Equity. In 2011, partnering with Joseph Chetrit, he purchased the Chelsea Hotel for $80 million; they sold their interest in 2013. In 2013, Bistricer began the restoration and reconversion to a hotel of the former Hotel Bossert in Downtown Brooklyn and the conversion of the Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan into housing. They halted the project in 2016 due to fears of an over-supply of luxury housing, instead selling the building for $1.4B to the Olayan Group of Saudi Arabia.

Bistricer has a conservative investment methodology and typically minimizes the use of debt with no more than 70 percent debt to equity.