Partners rescue more than our real estate

Steven Miller and Bret Caller, managers and co-founders of Blue Ash-based Viking Partners, don’t do anything halfway.

They’re aggressively capitalizing on the flood of failing commercial real estate loans, and recently made the first two acquisitions – shopping centers in Louisville and near Indianapolis – from their second private equity fund.

Away from the office, the business partners and friends have established themselves as leaders in the community, largely thanks to their work with the Jewish Federation on a local and national level. Caller also is active in the United Way’s Tocqueville Society, whose members donate $10,000 annually. Miller recently became involved with the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Cincinnati.

Those who know them say their reputations as tough businessmen precede them, as does their belief in the importance of helping others. The two aren’t mutually exclusive, Miller says.

“One of the reasons we do what we do is to provide for our families first and foremost, and secondly to provide for others,” Miller says.

In 2006, they were part of a group that helped rescue and transport Ethiopian Jews who were living in third-world conditions without running water or electricity to Israel. James Miller, the chairman of downtown’s Bartlett & Co. and a Viking investor, first met Steven Miller while he was giving a presentation about the Ethiopia trip.

“The first time I saw him, he couldn’t stop crying,” James Miller says. “It was pretty moving; he can’t talk about Israel without tearing up. The funny thing about it is he’s a very tough guy.”

Living the Israeli Dream without busting the budget

According to a recent poll, most Israelis yearn for a private house with a garden. That's eminently achievable, but you'll have to make geographic compromises.

Where would most people in Israel live if they had their druthers? Our dream home remains, as it has long been, a private house with a garden in a small community or country environment.

About 75% of 305 respondents in a Panels survey of a representative national sample on behalf of TheMarker said they would live in a single-family home if budget wasn't a factor - and 56% of those said they preferred a rural village or small town. The dream, apparently, isn't far out of reach: Over 90,000 detached homes have been built in recent years. The problem is they're not always geographically within reach.

A tale of two Israeli cities, with renovations and missed chances

Everyone is waiting to see whether masses of protesters fill Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard this year, too. But strolling down the boulevard and the nearby streets, one can't help but notice a socioeconomic phenomenon of an entirely different stripe.

It seems construction work is taking place on every other building and on every empty lot. On some sites we're talking about high-rise apartment buildings or huge, glittering office towers; elsewhere it's the renovation and preservation of old structures, newly beautiful in their fresh paint.

For example, there's the corner of Ahad Ha'am and Balfour streets, where an old building is being expanded and renovated. Beneath it a huge pit is being dug for underground parking. In the end, as the sign promises, the project will turn an old, neglected three-story building into a renovated gem, with additional floors on top.

This is a holiday period when we should be thinking positively, and it's easy to think positively when considering Tel Aviv's urban renewal.

Unfortunately, for decades a process familiar elsewhere in the world has been taking place in Israel, too. City centers have deteriorated and lost their residents as well as their fabric.