Jeffrey Gural, chairman of GFP Real Estate, discussed his career in real estate at The Real Deal’s Salon Series event. Gural shared that he did not initially plan to enter the family business, instead starting his professional life at the California highway department. “I had no interest in the family business,” Gural said. “I wasn’t one of those people where their father drove them around and showed them buildings on the weekends. My father was playing golf on the weekends.” His father, Aaron Gural, served as chairman of Newmark & Company from 1957 to 1998.
After returning to New York and a period with Morse-Diesel Construction Company, Gural joined the family brokerage. He began purchasing old warehouses and converting them into co-ops. “It didn’t make money, but it was fun,” he said. He later partnered with Barry Gosin, who contributed a drive for business growth. “I had no desire to be particularly wealthy. I thought middle class was good,” Gural said. “Barry was driven.”
During the 1980s, Gural and Gosin acquired B- and C-class buildings in Manhattan, focusing on areas that were overlooked at the time. “If I thought a building could make 10 percent in two to four years, I bought it,” Gural said.
Over the following decades, the firm expanded its holdings and changed its name to GFP Real Estate to avoid confusion with its affiliate Newmark Knight Frank. Gural emphasized his long-term investment approach: “I hated selling,” he said. “I look around and who are the richest real estate people in New York? The people who never sell.”
GFP Real Estate is currently converting the Flatiron Building into luxury condominiums, with prices starting just under $11 million for a 3,000-square-foot unit based on an offering plan filed with the Attorney General’s office. According to Gural, one contract has been signed and there are two additional offers for units in the building.
In addition to his real estate ventures, Gural is managing partner of the Meadowlands Racetrack and owns both a racino and a casino in upstate New York. He is recognized for personally responding to customer feedback and is known for wearing orange Crocs.
