Nathan Brodsky, who died Thursday at 89, was a developer whose Brodsky Organization built several large luxury apartment buildings in Manhattan during the 1980s and 1990s, including the 500-unit South Park Tower at 120 W. 60th St., and the 3,000-unit West End Towers, at 55-75 West End Ave.

His company manages about 7,000 Manhattan rental units in all, including many in smaller landmark buildings it renovated over the years. The more recent constructions include mixed-use commercial/retail space.

During the 1970s, Brodsky oversaw the conversion of several residential hotels to apartments, including the Beaux Arts, the Croyden, and the Fifth Avenue Hotel, which comprised more than 2,000 units.

The majority of the company’s new constructions are so-called 80/20 developments, in which 20% of units are rented out at below-market rates in exchange for tax abatements and financing guarantees. The West End Towers project was completed in the early 1990s, a lackluster period in the construction industry, after his Organization convinced city and state authorities to extend the length of tax abatements to 20 years, according to Brodsky’s son, Daniel, a partner in the business. The city then saw a proliferation of 80/20 projects.

Brodsky grew up in Hell’s Kitchen, the son of a Russian-born tailor who owned several rooming houses. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1938, and married Shirley Markowitz that same year, whom he met several years earlier at a peace rally.

After serving in the Navy in World War II, Brodsky got into the real estate business, buying and managing several buildings in the West Village with partners and family members. A number of the nearly 50 buildings his company manages are smaller landmark buildings in the West Village and Chelsea that Brodsky acquired in the 1950s and 1960s.

In his early 40s, Brodsky took up the cello. He eventually became good enough to play in an amateur orchestra, as well as in duets with his wife, a pianist. Through his family foundation, he endowed a chair at the New York Philharmonic, currently occupied by the cellist Qiang Tu. Other philanthropic interests included the American Museum of Natural History and the New York City Ballet.

Nathan Brodsky

Born June 14, 1917, in Jersey City, N.J.; died July 27 after a lengthy illness at Mount Sinai hospital; survived by his wife, Shirley, his children, Daniel and Thea, six grandchildren, and one greatgrandson.