David Mitzner
By : Robert Wylot
It took David Mitzner four decades to return to his native Poland, but when he finally did he made a success of it.
Mitzner, of Jewish origin, was born in Warsaw in 1936 and survived the holocaust by seeking shelter in the home of a sympathetic Polish family. Following the war, the young Mitzner left Poland for New York where he found work as a production manager at his uncles sweater company. By the early 1960s Mitzner saw the opportunity to set out on his own, and he left his uncles business to establish a hosiery company. Stockings made him rich, and he invested the money in real estate and later set his sights on property development.
Although Mitzner said the initial transition from hosiery to property was not easy, he eventually found success. But Mitzner was not only happy with financial prosperity. He said that since leaving Poland in 1950 he felt a tremendous urge to return to the country of his birth. In the early 1990s he saw his chance.
In 1994 he purchased and renovated two Warsaw buildings, which he then leased to Ericsson Corp. and the Polish Radiocommunications Agency.
His second project in Warsaw was the renovation of an old slaughterhouse in the Żerań district that he converted into a modern warehouse. His latest development is the 20,000 square-meter Renaissance Tower in Warsaw.
Mitzner said success in real estate development is based on reputation, and that one of the largest hurdles to real estate development is acquiring financing for projects. But even more important is cooperation with tenants. You can build something, but the real challenge is to lease it, he said.
Past notes
1936 Born in Warsaw
1950 Emigrated to New York
1960s Started hosiery business
1974 Entered real estate development
1982 Moved to Houston
1994 Began his first development in
Warsaw
Word of advice:
Never promise something you cannot fulfill.
