2007 NETWORKING® MAGAZINE’S DAVID AWARD HONOREE.

ALEC ORNSTEIN
President
Long Island Builders Institute, Inc.;    Co-Founder, Ornstein Leyton Company

BY MAUREEN TRAXLER

As a successful businessman in an industry that is traditionally sought after by organizations who honor members of the community, real estate developer Alec Ornstein says it is “incumbent upon us, as part of our civic duty, to give back to that community.” It is the same “ability that allows us to be profitable,” he adds, “that allows us to be philanthropic.” Ornstein comes from a Long Island family that has not only a distinguished heritage within the banking and real estate development businesses, but also a history of supporting the larger community.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in economics from
Syracuse University, Ornstein joined the staff at Central
Federal Savings Bank, a savings and loan institution
founded by his grandfather in 1937 and headquartered
in Long Beach. He rose to Senior Vice President and
was a member of the Board of Directors. In his executive
capacity, he was responsible for construction and
commercial real estate lending, residential loan origination,
and “work-out” loans.

Ornstein says that, at the time, he was on the Central
Federal staff, the City of Long Beach and the hotels on
the boardwalk were undergoing a transformation —
with non-residents seeking other locales for their summer
plans and the state moving patients from its former
psychiatric facilities into the area. As part of the
Community Reinvestment Act, Ornstein’s father,
Franklin, who was Chairman of the Board, founded a
non-profit organization called Rebuild and Restoration,
which set out to build affordable housing and renovate
the business district.

“ We acquired and built a number of single family
homes under the Housing and Urban Development
Section 235 program,” notes Ornstein, “and made low
interest funding available to local businesses to
upgrade the retail shops and facades, and generally
improve the City of Long Beach.” He credits his
father for this visionary approach to workforce housing
some 30 years ago…an issue that commands a
high priority today. Ornstein managed the bank’s
wholly-owned subsidiary corporations, actively
involved in the construction of affordable homes and
gentrification of Long Beach, as well as the communities
of Farmingdale and Sea Cliff.

By the early 1990s, the real estate market had
changed dramatically, and Ornstein saw an opportunity
to use his expertise in economics and finance, his
basic understanding of real estate and access to capital
and equity to acquire development properties and
assist banks in foreclosure and lending transactions.
He teamed up with a Central Federal colleague, Scott
Leyton, and they founded Ornstein Leyton Company
(OLC). By the late ‘90s, with the improvement in the
development industry, OLC shifted from “distressed”
to “market” real estate development.

OLC currently has four projects in various construction
phases: A 92-home Planned Retirement Community for those 55 years and older in Center Moriches; 14 single family homes around Lake Mahopac in Putnam County; 52 townhouse condominium units in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County; and a seven-story apartment building with 64 condominium units in Brooklyn. “OLC has the expertise to build any type of project,” notes Ornstein, “from starter homes to move-ups, to condominiums to resort-style developments with amenities.” Over the next three years, the firm is expected to build about 1,500 units in the metropolitan area.

Ornstein has been a member of the Long Island
Builders Institute (LIBI) since 1982, and has recently
assumed the presidency. In his new role, he has set out
to continue to raise awareness of the persistent lack of
affordable housing on Long Island, both for senior citizens
and working families, and to bring various decision-
makers together. “Decisions on land use on Long
Island are made at the town, village and city level,”
says Ornstein. “I’d like to get those public officials and
communities together, reach agreements, and begin to
set goals and targets for how many people we need to
serve. I’d like to bring the affordable housing issue to
the point where homes are actually getting built.”
Recognizing the “tremendous push for land acquisition
and open space preservation,” Ornstein believes
there are redevelopment opportunities in downtown
areas and expansion possibilities for existing projects.
As LIBI president, he will seek to “involve environmentalists
and people of different orientations and schools
of thought in a peaceful coexistence.”

“ We need development on Long Island for the health
and vibrancy of the economy,” Ornstein remarks, “and
we want to preserve open space and groundwater protection areas.” He is a board member of the Long Island
Housing Partnership, which has worked with LIBI to promote the affordable housing agenda.

Ornstein serves on the board of Home Builders Care,
a nonprofit off-shoot of LIBI, offering his fundraising
abilities and building industry expertise to help families
in need. He has participated in numerous projects
including fitting a home with handicap access for an
injured child. OLC offered its services to build a beautifully-
crafted, child-sized, playhouse on the grounds of
the Wading River campus of the Little Flower
Children’s Service. Under Ornstein’s leadership, the
firm supports youth attendance at Congressional leadership conferences and sponsors Eagle Scout projects.

OLC has also participated in Habitat’s Home Builders
Blitz 2006, a joint project with the National Association
of Home Builders. “We started work on a Monday and
by that Saturday we saw ribbon cuttings and people
moving into five homes in Bellport.”

Ornstein is a former board member of the Long
Island Science Museum, Long Beach Memorial
Hospital, Temple Emanuel of Great Neck and Temple
Beth-El of Huntington. He served on the Suffolk
County Holocaust Memorial Project, and was a board
member and vice president of the American Jewish
Committee, LI Chapter. Through the Ornstein
Scholarship Fund, he celebrates a long connection with
Syracuse University, where a family member has
attended every decade since the 1930s. In memory of
his sister, who received a master’s degree in banking
from Adelphi University, the Ornsteins endowed the
Aimee Ornstein Library of Banking in the School of
Banking and Business. And for the past 19 years, he
and his family have honored his father by bestowing
the American Jewish Committee’s Franklin H.
Ornstein Humanitarian Award to those who have battled
racism and inequality in Long Island communities.
A Lloyd Harbor resident, Ornstein has two daughters,
Avery and Halley.

NETWORKING® January 2007