Sam Mizrahi

Sam Mizrahi is a Canadian entrepreneur and real estate developer who is the President and founder of Mizrahi Developments, a private real estate development company that is a leader in envisioning and executing memorable projects of luxury condominiums in boutique buildings and high-rises.     In addition to leading Mizrahi Developments, Sam is the President and founder of  Northern Citadel Bancorp, a private company registered with the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) as a Mortgage Investment Trust and Administrator (MIT).   Sam Mizrahi grew up in the York Mills and Bayview areas of Toronto.  As a student atYork Mills Collegiate, Sam planned to go into medicine.  However, at the age of sixteen, driven to succeed, he identified an entrepreneurial opportunity and started his first company. That decision set him on the course of a career as an entrepreneur and business leader. The company he started was called Unimax.  It imported and sold blank audio and video cassettes to independent electronic stores in both Toronto and Montreal.  Sam led Unimax for four years, acquiring the distribution rights for Sony and building his company's annual revenue to roughly $18 million.   After selling Unimax, Sam Mizrahi moved into entrepreneurship in the real estate sector.  Sam took it upon himself to study urban planning filings and zoning applications in order to identify opportunities in land acquisition for development, a theme that would recur over the next few decades of his career as he continued to seek out unexplored land investment opportunities in the Richmond Hill and Oak Ridges areas of Toronto.   When Toronto’s real estate market faced a recession in 1990 and 1991, Sam moved away from the industry to pursue another idea in a niche market that others had not identified: luxury dry cleaning.  In 1992, Sam founded Dove Cleaners, a dry cleaning business catering to a high-end clientele. Setting up the company in Los Angeles, Sam soon expanded Dove to Toronto and over the next decade built the company into a business with more than 100 retail operations and an advanced processing plant.      Returning to the real estate industry in 2006, Sam Mizrahi first founded Mizrahi Design Build, an independent design-build company offering convenient turn-key solutions on a range of residential and mixed-use projects.    Then, in 2008, Sam founded Mizrahi Developments, a real estate development company initially focused on the development of high-end, custom-built homes in Forest Hill and other valuable neighborhoods of the GTA.  Upon seeing greater demand for custom-crafted and designed condominiums, similar in finish and quality construction techniques found in single-dwelling residences, Mizrahi Developments expanded into creating mid-rise, mixed-use boutique buildings, in addition to high-rise developments.  Since founding the firm, Sam has led the company to record-breaking sales in Yorkville, a heritage neighbourhood in midtown Toronto that is one of the most competitive in the luxury marketplace. At both 133 Hazelton and 181 Davenport, residences were sold out before ground was broken on construction.  The company is now working on several new projects, including 128 Hazelton and 1451 Wellington in Ottawa.   In 2014, Sam Mizrahi made headlines with the announcement of his latest development project to date, one that is integral to the identity and history of Toronto, North America's fourth largest city. Known as The One, the project is a mixed-used high-rise located at the southwest corner of Yonge and Bloor Streets.  This is an intersection that is one of the most desirable real estate locations in Canada and a retail corner that hasn’t changed ownership in more than a hundred years.  Designed by British architectural firm, Foster + Partners, The One will be the tallest residential tower in Canada at 80 storeys and 304 meters and will feature an exoskeleton design with structural supports on the building’s exterior, thereby allowing for maximum light and interiors free of supporting pillars.     Outside of his real estate development career, Sam values participation in the Toronto community and has supported a wide range of charities in areas that include healthcare and the arts.  Some of the organizations to which he has donated his time and effort include Hero Ride for Bridgepoint Active Healthcare, an After Breast Cancer organization, Toronto Zoo, and the West Park Healthcare Centre.   Sam is also a regular fundraising contributor in the Jewish community.  In 2012 and 2013, he co-chaired the United Jewish Appeal’s “Walk with Israel,” the largest attended fundraising event in Toronto and also co-chaired UJA’s “Run with Israel” event in 2015.  He serves as a board member of Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, an organization promoting tolerance and human rights around the world.  Sam was also a lead builder of theTemmy Latner Forest Hill Jewish Centre, a community resource in Forest Hill that provides educational facilities, including lecture halls and event venues, daycare and other community-building programs.   Sam lives in Toronto with his wife and two children.

real estate, Toronto, charity, travel, entrepreneurship