A few months after graduating from law school, Dubin built 24 homes outside
Annapolis and sold them for $150,000 each. The project gave him credibility to work with family members on "somewhat of an even keel". He worked in his family's real estate development firm as general counsel and helped the family develop single-family, high-rise condominium, and planned community properties.
Athena In 1993, Dubin founded the Athena Group, a residential real estate investment and development fund. The business approach was to identify opportunistic real estate projects. "My goals at the time were to buy real estate below replacement cost and to redevelop neglected assets." principally
New York City, the firm also did projects involving offices, condominium conversions, land development deals, distressed debt purchases, In 2004, Athena had $265 million in residential and commercial sales. In the first part of the decade as well, Athena considered investments in projects in
Russia but pulled out because of concerns about timing. The firm made campaign contributions to both
Democrats and
Republicans, including
John McCain,
Mitt Romney,
Robert Menendez, and
Hillary Clinton.
Fifth Avenue Opulence In the late 1990s, a prominent headquarters building for the 11-story
Union of American Hebrew Congregations at 838 Fifth Avenue at 65th street, originally built in 1950, was bought by
A. Alfred Taubman, and who worked with Athena to convert the units to luxury condominiums. Sonnenblick-Goldman arranged some of the financing. The building features a "discrete access ramp" for the disabled on the southeast corner. It was converted from an 11-story office building into a 10-unit residential condominium project. Other units sold for $16 million and $12 million Renovation work happened in 2000 and 2001. Sonnenblick-Goldman arranged financing for the deal, according to one source. Dubin appealed in the
New York Times for ideas about what to do with the statue.
Central Park North In 2003, Athena bought Harlem property on
Central Park North. Initial plans called for a 20-floor high-rise doorman-building with 80 units targeted to upper-middle-class families and single professionals with prices for each unit ranging from $500,000 to $1.7 million. Dubin said "This is an opportunity for New Yorkers to be on the
park at roughly half the price of
Central Park South." The finished building was 20 stories tall with 48 residential units, 9,500 of ground floor retail space, 48 parking spaces, and each unit had a view of Central Park. In December 2006, 30% of the units had been presold, and prices per square foot were about $1,200, and parking spaces cost $75,000. Cramer made the outdoor sculpture called
The Shape Matrix that greets visitors upon arrival to the property. According to one report, Athena and the magazine commandeered, for the party, "a pair of penthouses, a 4,000-square-foot triplex with an additional 1,700 square feet of terraces," with a projection screen to "mimic an airplane's interiors, courtesy of
Lufthansa." By August 2007, more than 70% of the building was sold with prices sometimes reaching $1,200 a square foot, according to Dubin. Developers thought that across-the-river condominiums were "an attractive alternative for high net worth apartment seekers who want to remain in the metropolitan area," according to a quote in the newspaper from one of the financiers. Dubin brought in architects from the Hillier Group as well as Schuman, Lichtenstein, Claman and Efron who designed the brick and glass facade.
Public Speaking Dubin spoke at public meetings regarding real estate trends. Dubin believes there is a need for affordable housing and thinks "low density zoning" would be beneficial in some communities; in others, "abysmal, high profile failures" have tainted the image of high-density projects. He has been a panelist on discussions about condominium development and conversion. Dubin was on television in 2007. In a commencement speech at Columbia University's graduate real estate program, he emphasized the importance of listening and how it requires patience and discipline to listen effectively. A mixed-use, $300 million joint venture project featuring retailers, restaurants, and housing units in northern Las Vegas with Vestar Development dubbed "Heart of North Las Vegas" was planned in 2007, which was supposed to have "outdoor fireplaces, pop-jet fountains, a video wall, a performance stage, shaded pedestrian walkways and tailored landscaping." There were plans to promote the Las Vegas project with a "naming contest" in which the winner would receive free college payments for four years to any college.
Rebirth In 2008, Dubin and Athena parted ways, and he formed another real estate firm called
LMD Worldwide LLC which was patterned after his initials.
The St. Joe Company Louis Dubin joined the Florida land developer named the
St. Joe Company in June 2012 as an executive where he structured large scale development partnerships and worked on the strategy, tactics and vision.
Redbrick LMD In the Fall of 2013, after his work at
St. Joe Company, Mr Dubin merged LMD Worldwide with Redbrick, a prominent Washington D.C.-based real estate investment and development firm which specializes in opportunistic and value-added residential and mixed-use projects with a focus on the Washington, D.C. metropolitan market. ==Personal life==