Jeff Blau

Who they are

Jeff Blau is the rare New York real estate heir who isn't related to the founder. Promote lore has it that he turned a Steve Ross speaking appearance at the University of Michigan into a ride home on Ross's plane, and had a job offer by the time it landed. He became Related's president in 2000 and CEO in 2012. The Promote calls Related's handoff the exception to the city's usually messy succession stories: Ross had other trusted lieutenants, but Blau was always going to be the guy. When Ross moved to Florida in 2024, Related became, in The Promote's phrase, "fully a Jeff Blau production."

Since then Blau has shown he learned the master's main lesson, which is to de-risk everything. In mid-2025 he won City Council approval for a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes structure to fund a roughly $2B deck over Hudson Yards' western rail yard. In return Related raised the number of affordable units, after dropping its casino bid for the site. He landed Deloitte as anchor for another Hudson Yards tower. He has also launched a data-center arm, become Ken Griffin's development partner in Miami, and won Signature Bank's rent-stabilized loan book even though Related wasn't the highest bidder. Commercial Observer ranked him No. 4 on its 2025 Power 100.

His signature New York bet now is 625 Madison, bought from SL Green for about $632M and redeveloped with former SLG president Andrew Mathias. Saudi Arabia's PIF took a reported two-thirds stake. General Atlantic is the anchor, and hedge fund Castle Hook agreed to record-setting rents for the top floors. Related also beat Vornado and SL Green to develop Prada's Fifth Avenue tower. Blau has been an outspoken political player. In 2025 he rallied business leaders behind Andrew Cuomo to stop Zohran Mamdani, who won anyway. In 2024 he sued EB-5 investors in Hudson Yards, alleging they had harassed him and his family.