Isaac "Itzy" Hager was born in the 1970s and belongs to the
Vizhnitz Hasidic Jewish community based in
Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The grandson of Rabbi
Mordechai Hager, he was raised in the small
village of
Kaser, New York founded by his grandfather. Since 2017, he has faced opposition from activists when he proposed building a 565-unit apartment complex in
Crown Heights, Brooklyn; in April 2019, a judge issued a
restraining order against the project. His company, along with city councilwoman
Laurie Cumbo, are
defendants in a case about the controversial
rezoning near the
Brooklyn Botanical Garden that would allow for oversize towers to be built there. Along with fellow Hasidic developers
Simon Dushinsky,
Yoel Goldman, and
Joel Schreiber, he is considered a prolific real estate developer in
Brooklyn. ==Personal life==