Kayla Lee of Serhant: 5 Questions

SERHANT’s Kayla Lee has a soft spot for Long Island City, Queens. But this prolific broker doesn’t limit herself to just one neighborhood in one borough. 

Across her decade-long career — during which she has sold over $1 billion in real estate across more than 850 units — Lee has cultivated a niche for new development by offering hyper-local expertise. In Manhattan, she focuses on luxury resale, while prioritizing new development in the outer boroughs. 

She prides herself on her ability to get deals done no matter what, and she has developed a keen eye for spotting the trends most in demand to buyers. 

Lee sat down with Commercial Observer in early September to discuss her career, her specialization in new development projects, what makes the outer boroughs perfect for new development, and her role as a “rainmaker” within Serhant.  

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

Commercial Observer: What drew you to a career in real estate?

Kayla Lee: I used to be in banking. I worked at J.P. Morgan and then a hedge fund, so it was all about the numbers for me. 

And then I got the real estate bug. I started to buy a lot of investment properties for myself. I flipped a little bit here and there, but I also held and I saw the prices nicely increase. I was building equity. At one point, I had several properties in Manhattan and Queens rented out, and there was just kind of thrill to it. 

I got my real estate license to learn more on how to negotiate and what to look for in a home. It was never to become a real estate agent, interestingly enough. I was working as an assistant for a friend who was in real estate, and I wanted to just clock in from 9 to 3 and go pick up my kids, but I was her assistant, and I sat in the brokerage office. 

Because I was a local mom, all the moms who saw me and heard that I was working there all came to me and said, “Hey, I need a bigger place. Can you help me sell my home? Can you help me buy my home?” They wanted to work with me, even though I didn’t necessarily have a ton of experience. They knew I was buying my own real estate and that I used to be in finance. They had this trust in me. 

And then it kind of exploded from there. I joined a local brokerage, and I started with a bang. 

How did you find a passion for new development?

I wanted to get into new development because I had purchased a new development in Long Island City, and I saw the broker and thought, “Wow, how great is his job? He sits in this nice building and he’s selling like 100 units, just in the same building. He’s not taking the train and running around to all these properties.” I just thought it was the greatest thing. 

So when I got into it, I asked my brokerage if I could train to be a new development salesperson. They told me it was a very different skill set, and I told them I would work for free, and that’s really how I got into it. I took my first project and I really didn’t really make much money, but it gave me all the experience and then it just went out from there. 

You do new developments in Brooklyn and Queens. What makes those boroughs good spots for new development?

I do a lot of [work in] Long Island City, Astoria and Sunnyside, which is more like western Queens, and then I just finished a 171-unit project in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. You could literally walk there from Long Island City over the Pulaski Bridge. We just sold our last unit. We increased prices 13 times. The developer is beyond happy, over the moon, and has referred me to multiple developers that he knows. 

Our team has such a big pipeline. We have a ton of buildings coming in the next five years. We have probably two buildings a year coming from now until 2031. 

Brooklyn has this aura and vibe, and everybody really reacts to it. Queens is the ugly stepsister. I feel like it doesn’t get its due. But Queens has a lot going for it. It’s so convenient to get to Manhattan, where a lot of people work. About 15 to 20 minutes away, you’re in a whole different borough, and now you’re surrounded by restaurants and parks, and you have a little bit of quiet space. You don’t just have high-rises covering your views.

I have a special love for the outer boroughs. I do love to sell luxury penthouses in Manhattan, but there is something about selling in Brooklyn and Queens that really feels like a home when I bring a buyer through. 

What trends are you seeing in how residential projects are being delivered and what tenants are looking for?

Many people never truly went back to work 100 percent after the COVID-19 pandemic. I know a lot of people personally also who’ve changed their careers, or they just changed their outlook on how they want to work. More people are spending time at home, even if it’s a hybrid situation. 

We do have more people requesting natural light, higher ceilings, a nicer view. It used to be location, location, location, and they didn’t care if they were in the best part of the West Village, they didn’t care that they were staring into a brick wall. Now more people are considering light, space and building amenities like pools and really nice fitness centers with saunas.  Or they want to be near parks. They want to be near transportation. 

A lot of people are looking further and further away from the core center of Manhattan where they work, and they’re asking for more space. Not only square footage, but people are more savvy now. They’re looking for intelligent design, so they want the variable refrigerant flow system for cooling. They want the triple-pane windows for insulation, heating, cooling, and also reducing the noise from outside. More people are asking for  kitchens that bend out so that they aren’t smelling last night’s dinner the next morning. 

People are being more choosy about how they’re living. They are not just looking for a location anymore. 

What has been your biggest deal so far in your career?

It was a $12 million townhouse in Manhattan where I represented the buyer. 

But, my business is new development, so my business has really been to sign exclusives with a developer for a building. So the first buildings that I brought on without really anyone’s help were the Vesta and Paragon in Long Island City. Those two buildings were brought on, and it’s over a $130 million sellout. I would say that is probably the largest deal because that was signed by yours truly, and bringing on a building is really my rainmaker role. 

I have a team who helps me work the building after, but I go out and pitch developers, and I bring in entire buildings, and the firm starts doing pre-development and sales afterwards. So that’s kind of been my claim to fame.

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com.