Skip To Main Content
Michael Stern on Muck Rack

Michael Stern

New York
Covers:  Real estate development, supertall and high rise construction, air rights and site assemblage, landmark restoration and adaptive reuse, zoning and entitlements, luxury residential, branded residences,

Get in touch with Michael

Contact Michael, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.

Learn more about Muck Rack

Actions

Share this page

Michael Stern’s Biography

Read Full Bio →

Michael Stern is a real estate developer and the founder and CEO of JDS Development Group, a national real estate development, construction, and acquisition firm with offices in New York and Miami. Since founding JDS in 2002, Stern has built a portfolio spanning ground-up development, adaptive reuse, landmark restoration, luxury residential, mixed-use properties, hospitality, and branded residences.

A defining feature of Michael Stern's approach is the structure of JDS itself. The firm brings a…

Michael Stern’s Journalist Portfolio

See all →
111 West 57th Street | Luxury Condos | JDS Development Group

111 West 57th Street | Luxury Condos | JDS Development Group

111 West 57th Street, a restoration and adaptation of NYC landmark Steinway Hall, is the tallest, most slende…

View article →
American Copper Buildings | NYC | JDS Development Group

American Copper Buildings | NYC | JDS Development Group

American Copper Buildings presents two bold and dynamic, twisting towers that lean and bend into a modern sil…

View article →
111 West 57th Street, New York

111 West 57th Street, New York

Engineering case study on 111 West 57th Street, developed by JDS Development Group and designed by SHoP Archi…

View article →
American Copper Buildings

American Copper Buildings

Engineering case study on the American Copper Buildings, developed by JDS Development Group and designed by S…

View article →
111 West 57th Street

111 West 57th Street

Facade engineering case study on 111 West 57th Street, developed by JDS Development Group and designed by SHo…

View article →
Michael Stern | Vertical Urbanism

Michael Stern | Vertical Urbanism

Profile of Michael Stern, founder and CEO of JDS Development Group, an acquisition, development, and construc…

View article →

Interview

See all →

How is social media changing news?

In development, it has changed who gets to weigh in and how early. A rendering circulates long before a shovel is in the ground, and the public conversation about a building starts while the project is still in entitlements. That raises the bar on what you propose. A design has to hold up to scrutiny from people outside the industry, not just the review boards.

What tools and software do you use to do your job?

Structural and facade modeling software, BIM coordination platforms, and construction scheduling tools sit at the center of it. Because JDS builds what it develops, the same models carry through from design into the field, so the drawings the team designs against and the drawings the crews build from are one continuous set rather than two separate efforts.

What's the best pitch you ever got?

The best proposals I get are the ones that arrive with the constraint already identified. A site with an awkward lot line, an encumbrance nobody wants to work through, a landmark that everyone treats as a problem. Those are the projects where there is actually something to build.

Awards

See all →

CTBUH Best Tall Building Worldwide, Award of Excellence

2022 - Architecture and Development

111 West 57th Street, developed by JDS Development Group, received the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat Award of Excellence. The 1,428 foot tower, designed by SHoP Architects, incorporates the landmarked Steinway Hall by Warren and Wetmore and is the tallest, most slender residential building in the Western Hemisphere.

View Award

CTBUH Best Tall Building by Height, 400 Meter Category

2022 - Architecture and Development

Awarded to 111 West 57th Street, developed by JDS Development Group with SHoP Architects.

NYCxDESIGN Award

2022 - Architecture and Development

111 West 57th Street, developed by JDS Development Group, recognized in the NYCxDESIGN Awards.

CTBUH Best Tall Building Americas

2018 - Architecture and Development

The American Copper Buildings, developed by JDS Development Group and designed by SHoP Architects, named Best Tall Building Americas by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. The twin towers are joined by a three story skybridge, the first in New York City in 80 years.

The Architect's Newspaper Best of Design Award, Residential Multi Unit, Honorable Mention

2018 - Architecture and Development

The American Copper Buildings, developed by JDS Development Group.