Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Douglas Jemal
Douglas Jemal (born November 30, 1942) is an American real estate developer, landlord, and the founder of Douglas Development.
Jemal first worked in electronics retailing, like his father. However, in 1993, he sold his interests in retail and began investing in real estate in the Washington metropolitan area. In 2016, he began focusing on real estate investments in Buffalo, New York.
Jemal was born to a Syrian Jewish family in south Brooklyn, one of four sons and two daughters of Norman Jemal and Sally Chira, a discount retailer in lower Manhattan. He attended David Boody Jr. High School but dropped out at age 15, during the 9th grade. He then worked odd jobs such as auction house runner, a delivery driver, and sold items on 14th Street during the Christmas shopping season. He joined his father's business at age 18, but 5 years later, he was bored and moved to Washington, D.C. to open his own store.
In 1966, at age 23, he and his younger brother Lawrence Jemal opened a store called Bargaintown in Washington, D.C. on the current site of the Capital One Arena. He set speakers outside the store to attract customers, and, after noise complaints, bought the building for $5,000. In 1971, they opened a location at Iverson Mall and closed the D.C. location. In 1976, they returned to New York and along with two other brothers, Marvin Jemal and Stephen Jemal, founded Nobody Beats the Wiz (the name of their father's favorite Broadway musical), a discount electronics chain. In 1980, he and Lawrence bought George's, a 15-store electronics chain in the Baltimore and Washington metropolitan area, from the estate of George Wasserman but sold it to Luskin's the following year. Douglas sold his shares in the Wiz back to the family in 1993.
Jemal invested the proceeds into real estate in the Washington metropolitan area, which was opportune as the city was in a down cycle. His success was compounded by the fact that he recognized that retail was under-present in D.C., with half the national average of retail space per capita, and he focused his leasing efforts on high-end retailers, which would improve neighborhoods.
In the early 1990s, he purchased the former Wonder Bread bakery on Georgia Avenue near Howard University for $4.5 million; he renovated and sold it for just under $18 million in 1993. That year, he purchased the Park & Shop complex on Connecticut Avenue in Cleveland Park for $6 million; after attracting tenants, he sold it for $11 million in 1995.
In 1993, Jemal and his brothers offered $150 million to buy the Baltimore Orioles but were outbid by Peter Angelos.
By 2001, he owned approximately 70 buildings with an estimated value in the hundreds of millions of dollars. These included 15 buildings on 7th Street between E and I Streets NW in Chinatown.
Hub AI
Douglas Jemal AI simulator
(@Douglas Jemal_simulator)
Douglas Jemal
Douglas Jemal (born November 30, 1942) is an American real estate developer, landlord, and the founder of Douglas Development.
Jemal first worked in electronics retailing, like his father. However, in 1993, he sold his interests in retail and began investing in real estate in the Washington metropolitan area. In 2016, he began focusing on real estate investments in Buffalo, New York.
Jemal was born to a Syrian Jewish family in south Brooklyn, one of four sons and two daughters of Norman Jemal and Sally Chira, a discount retailer in lower Manhattan. He attended David Boody Jr. High School but dropped out at age 15, during the 9th grade. He then worked odd jobs such as auction house runner, a delivery driver, and sold items on 14th Street during the Christmas shopping season. He joined his father's business at age 18, but 5 years later, he was bored and moved to Washington, D.C. to open his own store.
In 1966, at age 23, he and his younger brother Lawrence Jemal opened a store called Bargaintown in Washington, D.C. on the current site of the Capital One Arena. He set speakers outside the store to attract customers, and, after noise complaints, bought the building for $5,000. In 1971, they opened a location at Iverson Mall and closed the D.C. location. In 1976, they returned to New York and along with two other brothers, Marvin Jemal and Stephen Jemal, founded Nobody Beats the Wiz (the name of their father's favorite Broadway musical), a discount electronics chain. In 1980, he and Lawrence bought George's, a 15-store electronics chain in the Baltimore and Washington metropolitan area, from the estate of George Wasserman but sold it to Luskin's the following year. Douglas sold his shares in the Wiz back to the family in 1993.
Jemal invested the proceeds into real estate in the Washington metropolitan area, which was opportune as the city was in a down cycle. His success was compounded by the fact that he recognized that retail was under-present in D.C., with half the national average of retail space per capita, and he focused his leasing efforts on high-end retailers, which would improve neighborhoods.
In the early 1990s, he purchased the former Wonder Bread bakery on Georgia Avenue near Howard University for $4.5 million; he renovated and sold it for just under $18 million in 1993. That year, he purchased the Park & Shop complex on Connecticut Avenue in Cleveland Park for $6 million; after attracting tenants, he sold it for $11 million in 1995.
In 1993, Jemal and his brothers offered $150 million to buy the Baltimore Orioles but were outbid by Peter Angelos.
By 2001, he owned approximately 70 buildings with an estimated value in the hundreds of millions of dollars. These included 15 buildings on 7th Street between E and I Streets NW in Chinatown.