El-Ad Group

ElAd Group, (El Ad US Holding, Inc.) is a real estate development conglomerate based in Israel. Among its subsidiaries is New York City-based ElAd Properties, which owns several landmark properties in that city and in May 2007 purchased the New Frontier Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada for a record $1.2 billion. The ElAd Group is a subsidiary of Delek Group, owned by Yitzhak Tshuva, a self-made billionaire with assets around $4 billion. Tshuva was listed at No. 214 on the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people in 2007, up from 382nd just a year earlier. [Jen Benepe. [http://ny.therealdeal.com/articles/for-big-foreign-buyers-a-tricky-path-to-the-cash "For big foreign buyers, a tricky path to the cash"] The Real Deal, August 2007]

ubsidiaries

Middle East:ElAd Group, run by CEO Amos Kol, [ [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worldbiz/archives/2008/03/03/2003403834 Elad Group reopens New York's Plaza] Bloomberg and AP, "Taipei Times," March 3, 2008] focuses on IT, one of the leading companies in the Israeli IT market since 1982. [ [http://www.elad.co.il/Elad_Eng/Products.htm ElAd Group-Israel] ] "Elad Hotels Ltd."took a controlling interest in the 6-hotel Sheraton Moriah Israel hotel chain.

North America:"ElAd Properties" is a real estate developer based in New York City, with extensive holdings in the United States, primarily New York City. The flagship property of Elad Properties, New York, is the fabled Plaza Hotel at Central Park, bought by ElAd affiliate CPS One LLC [ [http://www.bdcentral.co.nz/afa.asp?idWebPage=8338&idBobDeyProperty_Articles=3266&SID=41588497 The Bob Bey Property Report] ] and reopened on March 1, 2008. ElAd Properties is run by CEO and President Miki Naftali.

Established in 2004 to spearhead ElAd expansion into the southeast, "El Ad National Properties" began as an affiliation between El Ad Group Florida and El Ad Group Canada, and today runs properties in ten states with a focus on the south, the midwest and northeastern United States. 55% of Elad National Properties' portfolio are rentals. Through a joint venture, El Ad National Properties controls Element National Management, a property management company. [ [http://www.eladgroupfl.com/about/profile.cfm El Ad National Properties website] ]

In 2007, the company expanded its holding in Los Angeles, purchasing land between Beverly Hills and Westwood as part of a $330 million development deal. [ [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worldbiz/archives/2008/03/03/2003403834 Elad Group reopens New York's Plaza] Bloomberg and AP, "Taipei Times," March 3, 2008]

Far EastElAd Group runs several joint ventures with local companies in India and Singapore. In 2007, "Elad Far East" was established via a partnership deal with China's Zeg Investments. [Naama Sikuler. [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3438055,00.html Elad Group branches into China] YNet, 08-15-07]

Controversies

New York: ElAd's purchase of New York City's Plaza Hotel caused great controversy in 2004. As the hotel was readied for opening on March 1, 2008, the "New York Times" observed, Tshuva and Peter Ward, president of New York's hotel workers' union, seemed like best friends: "It was a big change from early 2005, when Mr. Ward vowed to block Mr. Tshuva's plans to convert most of the hotel into luxury condos and reconfigure some of its Edwardian public spaces into upscale shops, moves he contended would force union members out of work." [Greer Fay Cashman. [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1191257258060&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter Business Scene] The Jerusalem Post, October 9, 2007]

Las Vegas: On May 15, 2007, the company announced plans to purchase the New Frontier Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, with plans to raze the current structure and build a new resort to be branded as The Plaza Las Vegas. It sold for a record $33 million per acre. [ cite news|url=http://www.lvrj.com/news/7530232.html|title=MORE THAN $1.2 BILLION: New Frontier sale sets record|publisher="Las Vegas Review-Journal"|last=Stutz|first= Howard |date=2007-05-16] In April 2008, El-Ad Properties faced a law suit between themselves and the New Frontier owner. Las Vegas lawyer Gene Porter of Porter and Bello Law Corporations was hired to mediate the dispute. The final settlement totaled at just over $3,000,000.00.Fact|date=June 2008

East Jerusalem: In 1998 ElAd took over responsibility for archaeological digging in East Jerusalem, in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan. This excavation has provided justification for ElAd to evict many Palestinian families from their homes, and ElAd has been accused of using this archaeological site as a justification to cleanse East Jerusalem of indigenous Palestinian people to make way for illegal settlements. The residents of Silwan started a campaign called the "Citizens for Silwan," to stop the excavations. They have been recognized internationally and joined by many prominent scholars and intellectuals as well as a handful of Israeli academics, who are trying to help them remain in their homes. Among those involved are David A. Bell, dean of faculty and professor of the humanities at the Johns Hopkins University; Judith Butler, professor of rhetoric and comparative literature at the University of California at Berkeley; Lorraine Daston, director of Berlin's Max Planck Institute for the History of Science; Natalie Zemon Davis, professor of history emerita at Princeton University; Rashid Khalidi, professor of Arab studies at Columbia University; Thomas W. Laqueur, professor of history at the University of California at Berkeley; Sheldon Pollock, professor of Sanskrit and Indian studies at Columbia University; Marshall Sahlins, professor of anthropology and social sciences emeritus at the University of Chicago; and Robert A. Schneider, professor of history at Indiana University at Bloomington and editor of The American Historical Review. Also included are David Shulman, professor of South Asian studies, and Yaron Ezrahi, professor of political science, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as Israeli signatories. [ cite news|url=http://http://www.counterpunch.org/bronner04112008.html|title=The Politics of Archaeology in East JerusalemDigging for Trouble|publisher="Counter-Punch Online] [ cite news|url=http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9856.shtml|title=Archaeology used politically to push out Jerusalem Palestinians|publisher="Electronic Intifada Online]

Holdings

* Plaza Hotel
* O'Neill Building
* The Grand Madison
* 21 Astor Place
* The Link REIT
* New Frontier Hotel and Casino
* Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower

Delek also operates gas stations and has interests in car dealerships, cable television, insurance and energy companies. [Jen Benepe. [http://ny.therealdeal.com/articles/for-big-foreign-buyers-a-tricky-path-to-the-cash "For big foreign buyers, a tricky path to the cash"] The Real Deal, August 2007]

References

External links

* [http://www.eladproperties.com ElAd Properties web site]
* [http://www.eladgroupfl.com ElAd Group Florida]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/realestate/26cov.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1190233108-dUDul20mHMmG7/tL0YALGg NYTimes Article]
* [http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Elad+Properties+LLC NY Daily News links]
* [http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2005_2nd/Apr05_PlazaChanges.html On the Plaza Hotel in NYC]
* [http://www.forward.com/articles/3409/ The Forward: Israelis in NY real estate; links with Lev Leviev]
*Gabrielle Brikner, [http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/middle-east-investors-buying-into-new-york/58264/ "Middle East Investors Buying Into New York"] The New York Sun, July 12, 2007