Carl Milstein (1924-1999) was a prominent Cleveland, Ohio, area real estate developer and self-made millionaire. Milstein was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Ida and Morris Milstein, who ran a poultry business. Milstein's first job was plucking chickens for his father. He graduated from John Adams High School and briefly attended Ohio State University. He started a home building business, Alvin Homes, with his childhood friend, Alvin Siegal. In the 1950s they built hundreds of homes in Brook Park near Cleveland Hopkins Airport.
In the mid-1960s, Milstein started Associated Management Corporation, which developed high-rise apartment complexes in Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, Summit and Portage counties in Ohio. Most of these developments were subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). By 1975 Milstein was the largest developer backed by HUD in northeast Ohio. Milstein's activities with HUD came under scrutiny in the late 1970s, when he was convicted of bribing a HUD official and spent four months in prison for the crime. In 1980, Milstein founded Prestige Management, which developed office parks. He was instrumental in the development of the city of Independence, most notably building Crown Centre and its surrounding buildings in 1989.
Milstein devoted most of his time after 1984 to the Northfield Park Race Track. After buying the track with business partner George Steinbrenner in 1972, Milstein leased the track for twelve years. When Northfield Park almost went out of business, he took over the management reins and converted it into one of the premier harness race tracks in the country.
Milstein received many awards and honors from the various organizations he served, including Warrensville Center Synagogue and the United Way. In the 1990s the Northeast Ohio Apartment Association inducted Milstein into its Hall of Fame.
From the guide to the Carl Milstein Papers, 1972-2000, (Western Reserve Historical Society)
