Founder & Chairman, Gazit Globe
Interviewing G-City CEO & Founder Chaim Katzman
Super informative interview with Chaim Katzman the founder and CEO of “G–City” (Gazit Globe), a public company that owns and manages over $12 Billion of commercial real estate.
We will discuss if now is the right time to invest, and where.
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About Chaim Katzman
Chaim Katzman, founder and chairman of Gazit Globe, discussed his company’s portfolio and real estate strategy in a 2023 interview. He stated that Gazit Globe controls 104 shopping centers in major metropolitan areas worldwide, with a total value of around $12 billion. Katzman described Florida’s real estate future as “not that complicated” and advised investors to become long-term investors. He also recommended that newcomers to real estate “become an expert” by focusing on a local niche and studying it thoroughly. In earlier appearances, Katzman addressed economic and political topics. He argued that a two-state solution is the only viable path for Israel and the Palestinians, stating that “if we do not want to have a South Africa in Israel or a democratic country with a minority Jewish population, the two-state approach is the way forward.” On the economy, he noted that Gazit Globe had been a net buyer during the 2009 recession, investing close to a billion dollars, and he described the real estate industry as a cyclical business where companies should maintain liquidity to survive downturns.
Transcript (25 segments)
A
Ayal Melamed0:00
Hello friends and followers, my name is Ayal Melamed. I'm a real estate broker here in South Florida. I like to share original quality content about real estate in Florida, and today we're going to interview a very known businessman, CEO, and the founder of GCT. GCT owns hundreds of shopping centers and commercial spaces all around the world, and today we're going to ask the CEO what he has to say about the real estate here in Florida.
Hi Chaim, and thank you so much for having us. So let's start with explaining about your company, GCT. What is it?
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Chaim Katzman0:52
GCT is a developer, owner, manager of super urban shopping centers or mixed-use properties in some major metropolitan areas around the world. Here in Florida, in Boston, New York, in Europe, in Warsaw, in Prague, in Stockholm, in Tel Aviv, Sao Paulo. So that's what we're focused on.
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Ayal Melamed1:17
How many shopping centers? What's the volume of the own and manage?
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Chaim Katzman1:21
We control 104 shopping centers in those destinations, and the total value is somewhere around 12 billion dollars.
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Ayal Melamed1:44
Wow, yeah, amazing. What made you become into, what led you into this industry of real estate?
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Chaim Katzman1:50
Oh yeah, you buy a shopping center at the time, and then you buy them in bulk, and then you merge a few entities, and then you end up like we did in 2017 with about 500 shopping centers, predominantly here, Canada, in Europe. And really in 2017, we made a strategic decision that we don't want to own so many run-of-the-mill shopping centers. We want to focus on unique situations. Scarcity is the name of the game. Super urban, very well connected to a metro mover, to a people mover of sorts, because it can be the subway, a bus, or it's walkable. You know, the walkability index. And I think the Brickell is one of those examples. I mean, we are now getting ready to develop in Brickell next to the train, to the Brightline station, across from the mall. Somebody who's going to live in those apartments rarely would use a car.
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Ayal Melamed2:58
Yes, yes, exactly. You don't need as many parking spots in these buildings. It's nice and sustainable. It's cleaner. So you sell it to higher corporate and you buy in low cap rates just because you believe that these new properties will appreciate. The environment value, the juicing value in those assets is almost unimaginable, and it's up to your imagination because the locations are such that every government agency, municipality, is going to want you to do as much as possible. You need to figure out what exactly is the right combination and how to get it done.
Another question is, what made you, you were born in Israel like me, what made you come to Florida, especially Florida?
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Chaim Katzman3:46
Florida is a great place. I mean, we love the weather. My late wife, I started a residency here at Jackson Memorial, and they came, many good Israelis that we came for three years, and 30 years later, we're still here. So Florida is a good place. Yeah, we fell in love with Florida, that's the truth.
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Ayal Melamed4:04
What other countries you like to travel? I know you travel a lot. Which one is your favorite other than Florida?
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Chaim Katzman4:09
Yeah, well, my job, you understand, that takes me around the world quite often, more often than I would like, actually. Well, some European countries, Italy comes to mind, even though we don't have any business. Why you don't have anything in Italy? If you like to travel, it's a good excuse because I want to travel there and enjoy it, not to work there. I also developed a lot of affinity to Prague, which is one of the nicest cities in Europe.
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Ayal Melamed4:42
You have some properties in Prague?
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Chaim Katzman4:45
Yes, we do. Yes, we do. We have some major shopping centers over there. And I think that those countries, of course, are besides Israel and Florida, which is home.
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Ayal Melamed4:58
Amazing. For my followers who are investors and they buy here in South Florida, what do you think about the future, the long-term and the short-term future?
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Chaim Katzman5:06
Look, short term is very hard. You know, it's usually they say that the long term is very hard to predict, the future is hard to predict. But actually, Florida's future is not that complicated to predict. We were right for the last 30 years, not on every wave, in the midst of the direction, the trajectory. And so I believe that any investor here really wants to be successful should consider becoming a long-term investor. That is the gist of it. Short term, yeah, you may get lucky.
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Ayal Melamed5:49
With your experience, can you tell if we are here or there?
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Chaim Katzman5:55
Oh yeah, we used to have what we call the crane index. You look at the skyline and you see how many cranes you see, and then you can determine where you are in the cycle.
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Ayal Melamed6:03
Yeah, yeah. So the more cranes, the better?
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Chaim Katzman6:06
No, maybe it's over. Well, of course, the more cranes... Florida is still part of it. I mean, not all of it is still a boom and bust. There are certain pieces of South Florida crossed already the point of no return, and Brickell comes to mind, maybe Coconut Grove, maybe a few other spots where there's enough, there's a critical mass of people in the square mile or wherever you measure it, that would make it very hard for a Florida boom and bust like should be. Right, when everything plummets, everybody tells you this is the end of the world, it's never coming back, and then it's a very good sign that you can start buying. I don't think that you would see it in Brickell, but you might see it elsewhere in the state.
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Ayal Melamed7:16
So you believe in Florida in the long run?
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Chaim Katzman7:22
Oh yeah, for as long as they don't take the sun from here. Then look, Florida has been growing at two percent for as long as I can remember. And it's a big number. When I came to Florida, Florida, I think the population was less than 10 million or about 10 million. It's now 22. Yes, it surpassed New York. Think about it. So yeah, and there's good reasons to live here. Me, an example, and I believe that more people would love to come here. The pandemic was another driver, and remote working, Zoom, anything that goes along with it. And look at what's happening in New York City, look at the vacancies over there and so on. You learn. I just had lunch with a friend from New York. So clearly, why not here? I mean, you have two major international airports, who knows how many flights daily to every place in the world.
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Ayal Melamed8:36
Yeah, last question. Any good advice for those who just start getting into the real estate markets?
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Chaim Katzman8:42
Yeah, become an expert. Become an expert. I mean, become an expert. Pick a niche, pick a pocket, an area where you farm it and you become the expert. You know everybody, you read the local newspaper, you know who owns what, who's getting a divorce and who's getting married and everything that goes along with it. In the end, most of the success is achieved within five miles before you leave. And I think that if you start, this is definitely the best advice I can offer: is stay local, but study it and excel in it.
A
Ayal Melamed9:26
I appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you. Thank you for watching. This was very informative, very interesting. Personally, I know Chaim because I served as his chief of staff a few years ago, and he's a very hard-working, experienced businessman and CEO. If you want to keep watching my videos, please share, like, and follow on my page Nadlan in Miami. I see you in my next videos.