Gentos
Gesperrt
Albanians
Starting out as building superintendents, some of today's major Albanian landlords took over rental apartments in the 1970s in the dark days of the Bronx, said Henry Djonbalaj, a broker and property owner whose father arrived in 1970 from Montenegro, in what was then Yugoslavia.
Djonbalaj said the weak economy and the opening of Co-op City in the Bronx in 1973 hurt the value of apartment buildings. That prompted many landlords to give the buildings to the supers for just $5,000 to $20,000 more than the mortgage, brokers said.
The first wave of ethnic Albanians from Montenegro arrived in the 1960s, while a second group came in the late 1980s as ethnic Albanians were persecuted in Kosovo.
Members of the Albanian community have amassed hundreds of properties in recent decades, owning by some estimates a third of the apartment buildings in the Bronx. And many raise money, which is often used to fund acquisitions, from within the tight community.
Even today, Albanians still keep a sharp eye on available properties.
"In the Bronx, like on Pelham Parkway, most of the buildings, if they come on the market, [the Albanians] are the first to buy it," said Djonbalaj, who owns several properties in the Bronx and Westchester.
Some of the prominent Albanian owners include Douglas Celaj, Deda Gjonaj and Anthony Gazivoda, many with hundreds of apartment units in their portfolios.
Marco Lala, an investment broker with Marcus & Milli-chap, said his father, who owned a seven-unit property in the Bronx, escaped from communist Albania, and felt obliged to help others buy buildings.
Lala tells the story that his father heard about an Albanian super who was sent to jail after killing an intruder. Once he was released, he could not find a job.
"My father thought this was preposterous," Lala said. "He led a group to raise about $40,000 so that this guy could actually buy his own building and give himself a job!"
One prominent real estate attorney, who asked not to be named due to the sensitive nature of ethnic ownership, said Albanians followed a well-worn pattern of buying property in less expensive areas when they were still new to the country.
"The longer that the group's been in town, the better [the] areas [that] they are going to buy in. That is rule number one," the lawyer said.
Clans with plans | The Real Deal | New York Real Estate News
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