74 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • AUGUST 2020
OBITUARY
CASTAGNA
FRANK LEADING LI DEVELOPER
BY DANA CHIUEH
Long Island real estate developer Jerry
Wolkoff died at 83 on July 17 of a brief
neurological illness.
Born into a low-income Brooklyn
family in 1936, Gerald “Jerry” Wolkoff
exemplified the American Dream. He
began working at age 10, starting his
first business by 16. He never attended
college, but became one of the most
prominent LI developers, known for
5Pointz Towers in Long Island City,
the proposed Heartland Town Square
in Brentwood, and major business
parks in Edgewood and Hauppauge.
Wolkoff vowed never to retire and
remained highly active in G&M Realty,
working alongside his sons in the family
business bearing both Wolkoff and his
wife Michele’s initials.
Today, G&M Realty owns upwards of 12
million square feet in industrial acreage
across New York City and the Island.
Colleagues said his stellar track record
was a result of prioritizing tenants’
satisfaction.
“He was in his 80s and he would come up
from Manhattan to Edgewood every day
to work long hours,” said Philip Schwom,
president of Schacker Realty, who represented
Wolkoff in many major deals.
Wolkoff died before his two most controversial
projects reached fruition.
5Pointz, a Long Island City building he
leased to artists, became a graffiti mecca
covered in murals — until he had the
property whitewashed in 2013 without
warning, triggering a February 2020
court order of $6.7 million in damages to
be paid to artists. The two new 5 Pointz
Towers, housing more than 1,100 apartment
units and interior replicas of the
original murals, are nearly completed.
Arguably Wolkoff’s white whale was
the 452-acre Heartland Town Square
in Brentwood, a project he pursued for
Frank Castagna
more than 18 years. If approved, the
smart growth development would be
Long Island’s largest planned community
since Levittown, with 9,000 housing
units, millions of square footage in office
and retail space, an aquarium and other
public spaces. Wolkoff hoped the development
would revive the community.
“Whenever he did a lease, one of the biggest
questions he had was what jobs are
you bringing to Brentwood?” Schwom
added.
Plans stalled over disputes with Suffolk
County and Town of Islip officials over
zoning issues. The Islip Town Board
approved the plans in 2017 but the project
faces litigation from the Brentwood
School District and complications with
sewage lines.
David Wolkoff vowed to see the project
completed.
“Where despair lingered, Jerry found
opportunity, constructing homes,
industrial parks, and a better community
for all,” said Suffolk County
Executive Steve Bellone. “His heart
was as big as his proposed mixed-use
development.”
Along with his wife Michele and sons
David and Adam, Wolkoff is survived
by daughter-in-law Stephanie and grandchildren
Zachary, Tyler, and Alexi.
BY DANA CHIUEH
Frank Castagna, philanthropist and
influential Long Island real estate developer,
died on July 7 from a yearlong
fight with cancer. He was 91.
Born in 1928 and raised in Sheepshead
Bay, Castagna earned a civil engineering
degree from Pennsylvania Military
Academy before joining his father’s
construction firm, which was soon renamed
Castagna and Son. The business
was awarded many contracts on LI and in
New York City, including Nassau Veterans
Memorial Coliseum, Rikers Island’s
correctional facilities, New York State
Supreme Courthouse, and others.
The firm was also responsible for
major developments, including North
Shore University Hospital, Stony Brook
University Hospital, Great Neck South
Middle School, and buildings at Hofstra,
Yeshiva, and Adelphi universities.
Constructed in the 1950s, the crown
jewel of the firm remains the
220,000-square-foot Americana
Manhasset, which has drawn luxury
tenants such as Louis Vuitton,
Chanel, and Gucci, and independently
owned luxury store Hirschleifers.
Loath to call it merely a “mall,” Castagna
emphasized the experiential factor of
the Americana, which spends hundreds
of thousands of dollars annually on
fresh flowers.
He once said, “The first thing people say
is, ‘Don’t you love the flowers?’”
In the 1980s, Castagna Realty expanded
its luxury shopping destinations with
Wheatley Plaza in Greenvale.
Alongside his wife Rita, from the family
behind Ronzoni Macaroni, Castagna
was active in philanthropy, serving on
the boards o Old Westbury Gardens,
North Shore Child & Family Guidance
Center, Nassau County Museum of
Art, and others. Castagna hosts annual
Champions for Charity benefits; 2019’s
event raised more than $1 million for
local charities. The couple has received
numerous awards from local for their
philanthropic efforts.
“Frank Castagna was an absolute
prince,” Charles A. Riley, director of the
Nassau County Museum of Art, told the
Press. “So many of the highlights of the
30-year history of the Nassau County
Museum are the direct result of his
magnanimity and perfect taste.”
“Personally, I think of Mr. Castagna’s
civility as a paradigm that we all strive
to live up to, a torch he has passed onto
future generations,” he added.
Castagna is survived by his wife Rita;
daughter Catherine, now president
of Castagna Realty after her father’s
50-year tenure, and her husband Ernie;
son Fred; grandsons Brian, Michael,
Frank and Mario; and step-granddaughters
Amber and Marissa.
The family has requested that donations
be made to the Nassau County Museum
of Art, North Shore Child & Family
Guidance Center, and Island Harvest.
JERRY WOLKOFF
LI HEARTLAND PROPONENT
Jerry Wolkoff.
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
