Ghermezian Family
The Ghermezian family is a Canadian family of Iranian Jewish origin who have developed several of the world's largest shopping malls. The family's holdings include the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota and the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Canada. In 2011, the family's Triple Five Group acquired the troubled Xanadu Meadowlands project in New Jersey. Triple Five renamed the project American Dream Meadowlands and has announced a major expansion and revamping of the under-construction mall, now expected to open in the fall of 2013.
Jacob Ghermezian was born in Azerbaijan in 1902. He started the business in Iran when he was just 17 years old. Ghermezian left Iran with his family in the late 1940s and settled in New York. His oldest son later moved to Montreal for education at McGill University and to begin establishing a business there. The family business of importing Persian rugs was flourishing. By 1964 they owned 16 retail stores throughout the United States and Canada. Between the 1950s and 1970s, these carpet importers transformed their business focus to real estate development. In 1965 Jacob Ghermezian established a real estate business, Germez Developments, which was later named Triple Five, to purchase land and resell it to builders in the Ottawa area. Two years later Jacob and the oldest of his four sons moved to Edmonton and began purchasing land there, beginning with a hotel and other properties. Thanks to the region's oil boom in the 1970s, the Ghermezians' real estate investments prospered. Eventually the entire family moved to Edmonton.
In their adopted home of Canada, the Ghermezian brothers, Eskandar, Nader, Raphael and Bahman are figures shrouded in mystery. Although founder Jacob Ghermezian died in January 2000 at the age of 97, his sons continued doing business in the "outside the box" spirit with which their father founded the company. All of those who have dealt with the family describe them as hard-as-nails political and legal operators. These four Iranian natives have created one of Canada's biggest and most spectacular real estate empires through Triple Five Corp, their large asset-based financial conglomerate that consists of nearly 400 companies with offices across Canada, U.S., England, Japan, Taiwan and the Middle East. The Ghermezian brothers boast, among other things, of having built the world’s largest shopping mall, West Edmonton Mall. Now a staggering 5.3 million square feet, the mega mall features more than 800 stores, 25 sit-down restaurants, a casino, an amusement park, an indoor wave pool, a dolphin lagoon, and 26 movie screens in two theater complexes.
Since the mid-1980s, the Ghermezians have had plans to conquer the American real estate market as well. The family has done very well in Las Vegas, having become principals in at least 34 companies registered in the state. The Ghermezians also built the huge “Mall of America” in Minnesota. Since its opening, Mall of America has grown to more than 525 stores and now employs about 12,000 people. Inside the building, there are 49 restaurants, a cinema with 14 screens, and 8 night clubs. The mall has an economic impact on Minnesota of nearly $1.5 billion per year. It has become a must-see tourist attraction, with more than 270 million visitors both local and foreign since its opening. At the moment, Mall of America attracts more visitors annually than Disney World, Graceland, and the Grand Canyon combined, which makes it the country's most visited destination for U.S. travelers.
In 2010, the Jerusalem Post estimated the family's worth at 4 billion USD.
The Ghermezian Family is The recipient of The Following awards:
- Great Canadian Award
- The Family of the Century Award - Alberta Centennial - Canada
