Commercial Observer’s 30 Under 30: The Best and the Brightest of NYC Real Estate

JRT Realty Group congratulates Lauren Calandriello for being recognized as one of Commercial Observer’s 30 Under 30: The Best and the Brightest of NYC Real Estate.

Lauren Calandriello, 26

Director, JRT Realty Group

Lauren Calandriello never expected to go into real estate while growing up in Manasquan, a small beach town on the Jersey Shore. But while studying abroad in Rome during college, she happened to befriend Ryan Smith, whose mother, Jodi, is the chief executive officer of JRT Realty Group.

After graduating from Rutgers University with a bachelor’s in psychology and communication, Calandriello had a short stint at an IT staffing firm before landing at JRT. Jodi Pulice, who came up in the world of commercial real estate with few female colleagues, has set out to recruit more young women into the business. She hired Calandriello three-and-a-half years ago, and the now-26-year-old hasn’t looked back since.

As part of the team repping the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, Calandriello helped the city of New York lease a million square feet throughout the five boroughs this year. She’s also getting firsthand experience with up-and-coming office markets in the outer boroughs. Her team is working on leasing up two South Bronx warehouse-to-office conversions, the Bruckner Building at 2417 Third Avenue and Union Crossing at 825 East 141st Street. Across the river in Queens, she’s involved in finding tenants for the 16-story office tower at 24-01 44th Road (a.k.a. “Court Square Place”), as well as Kaufman Astoria Studios’ new ground-up commercial building under construction at 34-11 36th Street.

Ultimately, Calandriello is grateful she found her way to JRT, one of the few woman-owned brokerages in the city.

“There’s not a lot of women in the business, so it’s nice to work for a woman-owned company and have female mentors,” she said. “I didn’t even know commercial real estate was an option for anyone.”

In keeping with that ethos, she takes part in Cushman & Wakefield’s Women’s Integrated Network, which helps women network, cold-call and present better. She also volunteers with an organization called iMentor, where she helps guide a high school student in Harlem through the travails of preparing for college.

CO’s 30 Under 30: The Best and the Brightest of NYC Real Estate