Michael Yanko was born in Israel and grew up there. He served as an officer in the Israeli Army before relocating to the United States. He was the owner of Classic Group Realty from 1992 to 1999, a real estate firm with three offices and 75 agents. He developed more than one and a half million square feet of residential and hospitality space in New York.A longtime Manhattan developer, Michael Yanko guides The Yanko Group as a CEO. Earning his bachelor’s degree in finance at Baruch College, he entered the real estate field in 1990 and quickly transitioned from agent to broker. Establishing three successful offices, Michael Yanko continued renting and selling New York properties and growing the business. He also began developing real estate as a partner with Eilat Development Corp. He was one of the first in his industry to identify and capitalize on undervalued neighborhoods such as the Lower East Side and Hell’s Kitchen.Yanko’s focus over the years has been on acquiring co-op properties experiencing negative cash flow, rehabilitating them, and turning them into income-producing buildings. One prominent project involved the transformation of The Chapin on East 84th Street into a very profitable, 120-unit co-op conversion. Mr. Yanko also established By Design Construction, which created the Soma condominium complex at 116 West 22nd Street from the ground up.In the past 15 years, Yanko branched into hospitality where he built and opened four 4 star hotels totaling over 1,100 rooms. He is extremely excited about his new creation of the Shenango Hotels where his vision about hospitality comes to life.