At the end of the war, the G.I. Bill, offering affordable housing for veterans, triggered a massive housing boom, and the Kalikow family rebuilt their real estate business.

The Kalikows had ample land to develop because Joseph Kalikow had inexpensively purchased the tracts in Queens prior to the war. Kalikow Construction Corporation completed its first post-war apartment building, Hyde Park (6939 Yellowstone Blvd.) in Forest Hills in 1948, followed by the nearby Cromwell (69-60 108th St.) in 1951.

When the Forest Hills buildings were completed, the family turned their attention to the land that Joseph Kalikow had purchased years earlier in Briarwood and Jamaica, Queens. Though Harold Kalikow wanted to build more high-end, residential apartments as the family had done in Forest Hills, Nathan and Sidney Kalikow believed it would be too financially risky. The disagreement caused conflict among the brothers.

Joseph Kalikow and his sons built one last apartment building, Sagamore (84-31 Van Wyck Expressway, Jamaica), before he died in 1955. Harold Kalikow took over as president of the company, and the shares were equally split among the Kalikow brothers.

Although Joseph Kalikow and Fred Kronish stopped developing properties together years before, they continued to co-own and manage the properties they built under their partnership.

Following Joseph Kalikow’s death, Fred Kronish wanted to officially divide the remaining buildings he and Joseph had built and owned together between the Kalikow brothers and himself.

According to Peter Kalikow, his father Harold mostly negotiated for ownership of the buildings in Queens, a move that “spoke to his real estate instincts,” said Peter, as Harold Kalikow knew that the value of the real estate in Queens would continue to rise in the years to come. Harold would again prove his real estate prowess when negotiating a similar deal during the company’s division a decade later.

Despite competing views on development and the future of the company, the brothers continued to work together for the next ten years. They finished the development of their Jamaica and Briarwood tract as well as developments in Kew Gardens and Flushing. The developments included Claridge: 141-60 8th Road (1955); Amherst: 83-20 141st Street (1955); Carlton: 83-35 139th Street (1955); Eden Rock: 84-01 Main Street (1956); Griswald: 141-05 Pershing Crescent (1959); Newport: 71-40 112th Street (1961); Lombardy: 85-10 120th Street (1961); Monaco Gardens: 149-01 41st Ave (1963); Lido: 601 East 18th Street (1964); Imperial: 142-24 38th Avenue (1965); Barbizon: 142-05 Roosevelt Avenue (1965).

Throughout the 1960s, the company owned and managed over 50 properties housing 6,000 families. As a husband and father who understood the needs of families, Harold Kalikow was able to design and build apartments that appealed to the growing population of families moving out to the suburbs.