Gothamist: The Ultimate American Dream: From Cabbie to Fifth Avenue Millionaire

Jim

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 14:50:26 -0500

Very similiar to The Sims(a computer game)

basil

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 15:53:08 -0500

The idea of an ivory collection sounds suspicious. Was the ivory (art?) from illegal poaching? I wish the nytimes would have pursued that in the article as opposed to a feel good article about a record breaking sell of a building in the UES.

Susie

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 15:46:45 -0500

I believe that Sapir bought his Faberge egg collection from the Forbes Museum which is located on lower 5th Avenue. Will Sapir's gallery be open to the general public? (I don't really care about the ivory collection, but the Faberge eggs are exquisite.)

Jen

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 11:22:45 -0500

RE: Sapir's story, well, then, it's clearly the NYC Dream - "It's Who You Know."

tien

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 11:20:01 -0500

i guess lenny didn't get his way? har har.

timbnyc

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 10:35:12 -0500

Sapir's story is hardly what one thinks of as the proverbial rags-to-riches story - see below and the URL for more. Basically, IT'S OUR F---ING MONEY! I think we should all consider ourselves owners, and constantly knock on the doors asking to be let in. The story begins with a former cab driver from Soviet Georgia, Tamir Sapir. In the mid-1990s Sapir bought a distressed 1.6-million-square-foot clunker from the bankrupt Olympia & York empire for what amounted to pennies in mogul money--$20 million. Then Sapir offered to lease it to the MTA. But the building wasn't exactly in move-in condition. The MTA insisted it be fixed up, which the cash-strapped Sapir couldn't afford. He couldn't start remodeling without a loan, and he couldn't get a loan until reluctant MTA staff professionals approved the project. To smooth out the hitch, Sapir turned to The Fonz. Former Senator D'Amato called the head of the MTA--Kalikow's predecessor, who was also a Pataki appointee and who also rents space in Kalikow's 101 Park Avenue Tower--and got the approval. This is the famous half-million-dollar phone call D'Amato made in 1999. For just having the guts to make a cold call, D'Amato earned $100,000. Because the deal went down, he got an extra $400,000. Eventually Sapir was able to shift the cost of the call to the riding public. http://www.solidarityforsale.com/