Jeff Sutton (born 1960) is an American billionaire real estate developer and the founder of Wharton Properties.^[1] In December 2023, his net worth was estimated at $2.3 billion by Forbes.^[2]

Jeff Sutton was born into a Syrian Jewish family,^[3][4] in Gravesend, Brooklyn. His father was an importer of retail goods.^[5] In 1981,^[5] he graduated with a B.A./B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania.^[6]

Wanting to get into New York real estate and lacking the funding to compete with established real estate families (e.g. Dursts, Roses, Fishers, Rudins, Tishmans, and the Lefraks), Sutton took a different tack: he would first find a potential tenant, determine where they wanted a store, and then seek to buy out the lease from the tenant at the location. In some cases, he would buy out the landlord using the signed lease as support to secure financing in order to buy the property.^[5][7]

In the early 1990s, his strategy worked with Payless Shoes in upper Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens. In the late 1990s, he applied the same approach with CVS Pharmacy in lower Manhattan partnering with New York City's largest landlord, SL Green Realty.^[5] Sutton emphasizes securing triple-A national retail chains as tenants.^[8]

Sutton and his wife, Rachel, have five children.^[6] In June 2013, he purchased a residential property in Deal, New Jersey for $22.6 million.^{[10] [11]}