
AEW executives disagreed and litigation ensued, with AEW ultimately winning a messy court fight rife with charges and countercharges of fraud and forgery. Six years ago, Shekhter attempted to exercise what he believed was a clause in the contract with AEW that allowed him to buy it out for $106 million. Shekhter ultimately found a willing partner in AEW Capital, a real estate investment manager, and they put together a nine-building portfolio in Santa Monica that they owned in common. As a successful developer with a portfolio of 2,200 residential units and 30 buildings, NMS went in search of financing in 2010. Ukrainian-born Neil Shekhter, founder and CEO of Santa Monica-based NMS Properties, is relying on that buoyant attitude to lift him and his family past the sort of setback that might have crushed another entrepreneur. 5: S uccessful immigrants and developers share at least one quality: optimism, an unshakeable belief that there is a better life to be had in a new country … or a new building.
