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STAR-GLIDE" LARRY ARONOFF ACTON RENTAL & SALES 891-6500 540-5550 SERVICE OPEN 7 AM to MIDNIGHT MONDAY - FRIDAY southfidd CHRYSLER Primal Eagle 28100 Telegraph Rd.-Telegraph at 11 1/2 Mile At Tel-Twelve Mall, South End Southfield • 354-2950 We Accept el Personal Checks & Cash COMPUTERS N MORE 32 NEW LOCATION 6400 FARMINGTON RD. STE. 105 WEST BLOOMFIELD, MI 48322 (810) 788-0770 eal estate tycoon Yosef Buchman was only 24 when he made his first ma- jor property deal. He was an odd-job man, living in Frankfurt, not a likely candi- date for a tycoon. Born in Lodz, Poland, Mr. Buchman was interned in Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen- Belsen between the ages of 9 and 15. A survivor of the camps, he settled in Frankfurt after wait- ing three years for a visa to join an uncle in the United States. Meanwhile, the uncle died, and Mr. Buchman worked as a taxi driver and in the garment trade in Frankfurt. The big break and the big deal came in 1956, via a chance en- counter with an American officer. The American, who had been among the forces that liberated him from Bergen-Belsen, was now the head of Shell in Frank- furt. He mentioned to Mr. Buch- man that he was looking for investors for a 38-story building that woulclhouse Shell. Mr. Buchman asked for three days to see what he could do. He approached a bank, which on the basis of the knowledge that Shell- would be leasing the building, agreed to fully finance construc- tion. The timing was perfect. The cost of Frankfurt real estate did nothing but rise, and Mr. Buch- man's rental income multiplied. Acquiring loans was no longer a problem. Today, Mr. Buchman's real es- tate empire stretches around the world and makes him one of the 100 richest men in Germany. In November 1992, Fortune maga- zine estimated his wealth at $700 million; others say it's more. Neither Mr. Buchman nor his representatives will talk about the exact figures. Mr. Buchman, 64, who likes to be called by his Yiddish name, Yossele, says he will never forget who he was. The need to remem- ber is what fuels his donations to institutions in Israel. His latest contribution was a $3 million gift to the law faculty of Tel Aviv Uni- versity. The law school has been named after his parents, Eliez- er and Chaya Sarah, who died in the Holocaust. Their names will appear on everything related to the school, down to the stationery and the diplomas, according to Mr. Buch- man's agreement with the uni- versity. He is childless and this is his way of passing on his parents' name. COME SEE OUR LARGE SELECTION OF COMPUTER PRODUCTS We Service, Buy & Sell New & Used IBM Compatible Computers. "Having their name on this school is much more important than my name there," Mr. Buch- man says. His 11-year relationship with Tel Aviv University has focused on a scholarship fund for out- standing students and reflects his admiration, as someone who suc- ceeded with no formal schooling, for academic accomplishment. "I have learned that, in life, it is very important to study," he said. "I am sure that a universi- ty background would have made my life easier in every aspect, not only in the business world. There's no doubt about it." Although Mr. Buchman has dealt only in real estate for the past 38 years, the decade follow- ing the war years brought him no- toriety because of the nightclubs he owned in Frankfurt and its en- virons. Both the German and the Hebrew press hinted the clubs were fronts for prostitution and black-market dealings. Mr. Buchman ignored the smears. But in 1991, when a Ger- man television report accused him of having underworld con- nections, Mr. Buchman fought the allegation head-on. The tele- vision station, having no sub- stantive proof for any of its charges, came up with a letter of apology. "I get attached to (my buildings) like a little kid." Yosef Buchman Asked about the allegations, Mr. Buchman says: "In Germany, I really don't care about what peo- ple say. But here in Israel it hurts, just like it hurts more if someone from your family abuses you. In Germany, I know there is a re- lationship between the stories and political matters and the anti-Semitism that still exists there." Lately, Mr. Buchman's Israeli family has expressed its appreci- ation for the $2 million he lav- ishes annually on good causes. Last year, Mr. Buchman received an award from Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin for generosity to the State of Israel. In the past 11 years, Mr. Buch- man gave more than $6 million to Tel Aviv University — before his gift to the law school. He also has contributed a new $2 million wing to Ichilov Hospital and a new maternity wing for Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, which will also be named after his parents. Mr. Buchman gave $600,000 for the fountain that adorns Dizengoff Square. During the last elections, he contributed to both the Labor Party and the Likud, as well as to independent candidate Yitzhak Mod'ai. He is deeply involved in real estate in Israel, building shel- tered housing for the elderly in Netanya, and he owns properties in Rishon Lezion and Eilat. He leases his holdings in Israel, as he does in Germany and the United States. "I'm always emotionally con- nected to my buildings," Mr. Buchman said. "I don't sell them if I don't have to. I get attached to them like a little kid. I know the policy in Israel is that people build buildings and sell them. I like to keep them." Mr. Buchman is close to com- pleting a deal with the Marriott Hotels chain for a 500-room com- plex on prime property he owns at the corner of Frishman and Hayarkon streets along the strip of hotels on the Tel Aviv beach- front. As soon as the municipal planning board gives its approval, he intends to move forward with construction. His most grandiose dream is a $500-million project that will in- clude a 6,700-room luxury hotel, 5,600 rental apartments and a museum — the Buchman Muse- um. He wants to build on prime seaside property he owns which currently houses the crumbling Tel Aviv Dolphinarium. Blueprints for the project have been batted back and forth for more than five years, and he is submitting the latest draft to a lo- cal architect for inspection. A law prohibits construction directly onto the sea, with no shoreline in between. The mu- nicipality has proposed turning the Dolphinarium into a public park, and having Mr. Buchman build his hotel on an alternative site, further south, next to the Dan Panorama hotel, with a tun- nel connecting it to the Dolphi- narium. Mr. Buchman still hopes to build on the seaside, without Ha- yarkon Street standing between his complex and the ocean. To- day, his lawyers believe, he has precedents that he didn't have be- fore. The kind of municipal per- mission he wants has been given in Haifa, Netanya, Ashdod, Ashkelon and Herzliya. Why not in Tel Aviv?