TOMORROW’S
NEW JERSEY
Regardless of whether they sell Jersey City office
assets or lease Exit 8A industrial space, the CRE
professionals we’re profiling here cover the gamut
of Garden State real estate. Some may be part of
teams covering the larger New York suburban market, or they may maintain a laser-like focus on the
nation’s most densely populated state. All stand out
on account of skills that give them and their firms a
competitive edge.
We have identified 21 executives age 45 and under
who have made their mark on the Garden State and
whom we believe will be even more prominent in
years to come. Here are Tomorrow’s Leaders of New
Jersey commercial real estate.
SHAYA ACKERMAN, 31
Managing Director
Eastern Union Funding
BRENDAN BERGER, 30
Vice President
The Berger Organization
In the past five years, Ackerman has been a Top
Three producer at Eastern Union, closing
almost $500 million of transactions in the past
12 months, and he is on pace to triple that for
the next calendar year. He currently runs a
team that provides loans to a range of borrowers on a whole host of
property types and also is a resource for education and direction
for the firm’s many brokers and junior brokers. He describes the
New Jersey commercial real estate industry as “an ever-moving target” and feels that “the multifamily and commercial markets [will]
recover at a pace that should be safe and secure while still providing owners with great opportunities for investment.”
Berger is responsible for managing the
Berger Organization’s entire one-million-square-foot Newark office portfolio. Under
his leadership, for example, the company’s
historic Military Park Building, which it
acquired in 2007, reached 100% occupancy in April. Berger also
oversees day-to-day operations and management of all the firm’s
New Jersey properties. “In the city of Newark, we have seen a
considerable amount of activity, with new developments cropping up for the first time in decades,” he says. “The market is
doing better than it has in the past couple of years, and we hope
it only improves from here.”
