Austin Street’s Success Story

Yeheskel Elias, the real estate king of Austin Street, has a lot of things, but a secretary isn’t one of them.

"I like to deal with people, I don’t hide from them," said Elias. "Besides, if I want to tell someone to go to hell, I’ll do it myself. I don’t duck anybody."

It’s that kind of candor and audacity that has guided Elias for the past 25 years in transforming Austin St. from a modest, even lifeless, strip into a bustling, toni commercial district—more in line with the area’s high rent houses and apartments.

In the past three years alone, Elias’ company, the Heskel Group, has designed and built a 22,000-sq.-ft. Gap center, and equally impressive Ann Taylor and Staples stores. The area’s Blockbuster Video franchise, which took Elias 12 years to coax to the neighborhood, now does more business per capita than any Blockbuster in the City, he said.

"My main ability is to reach out and be very persistent," said Elias, 51, who prefers to be called Heskel. "But in a way that is not threatening to people."

Around his neck, he wears a tiny, gold cell phone—a gift from his two small children—inscribed "Get the Deal Done Dad."

A self-described "control freak," Elias shepherds all aspects of his projects, from groundbreaking through to ribbon cutting. "I tend to think in 3D," he said. "While we are still demolishing the old building, I am already thinking about which wallpaper or curtains will look best in the new one."

When he built the Duane Reede flagship drugstore on Continental Ave., Elias used digital images to recreate the building’s façade from its original construction in the early 1900’s.

The Heskel Group has also refurbished the neighborhood’s landmark Midway Theatre, preserving the Art Deco exterior, lobby and staircase from the theater’s first incarnation in 1942, while at the same time expanding the number of screens from four to nine.

The movie theatre business is particularly close to Elias’s heart. As a brash 22-year-old—penniless and fresh to the country after a three-year stint in the Israeli air force, he rented a Queens movie house to show a closed circuit telecast of the 1972 Joe Frazier-George Foreman fight from Kingston, Jamaica.

The two boxers made a killing that night. So did Elias, who never took a single punch, while pocketing $100,000.

The same year, Elias bought his first movie house, the Boulevard Theatre in Jackson Heights. Others followed in succession, including the Continental in Forest Hills, the Forest Hills Theatre on Continental Ave., and UA Brandon Cinemas on Austin St.

The company has also owned, or currently owns, several commercial buildings in the area, most notably Heskel’s Plaza, at 68-60 Austin St., which Elias sold in 1989 to the tune of $9.7 million; as well as a professional center at 70-10 Austin St., and another 54,000-sq.-ft. office building the company sold in 1991.

"Every project I have ever done, I did myself, from start to finish," he said. "I pick the site, I demolish the buildings, I pick the design. I have never stepped into anyone else’s success."

Elias can remember a time when the only thing people knew about Forest Hills was the US Open. He said that luring businesses and customers to Forest Hills is his biggest source of pride.

"I have always believed in the potential of this neighborhood as a residential area and a commercial area," said Elias. "Unlike indoor malls, we are a complete environment, not a controlled environment. We have restaurants and night clubs and people who walk down the street and know each other."

In the future, Elias would like to team with various government officials, particularly incoming Borough President Helen Marshall, to help develop some moderately-priced residential properties in the area.

"In Israel, the government has a program to help young couples who are starting out get a decent place to live," he said. "Young people should get the same kind of help here."

And as for advice to young entrepreneurs, Elias said it’s important to keep a positive attitude, particularly in these difficult times.

"Believe me, I have had plenty of tough days like anybody else," he said. "But the important thing for a person in business to ask is ‘are we better off today than we were yesterday.’ If the answer is yes, then you are ahead of the game."

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