Kristen Crossman, 28
Senior associate at CBRE
Kristen Crossman broke into the clubby world of commercial real estate via her deep involvement in the real estate program at Pennsylvania State University.
“I really leaned into every real estate-focused offering at Penn State,” Crossman said. “I always say I didn’t come from a real estate family, but Penn State’s alumni network was the next best thing.”
From college, Crossman started at CBRE. She was initially in the brokerage services giant’s research practice, soaking up information on the market she would end up doing deals in by early 2016.
Crossman works from the tenant and the landlord sides in a very tough part of commercial real estate: retail. It’s tough, yes, but also full of opportunities.
“Coming out of COVID, retailers are really eager to get out there and make deals,” Crossman said. “They felt the demand from their consumers to give experiences outside of the digital world. Physical retail became a really important part of a lot of retailers’ growth plans coming out of COVID, especially if they didn’t have physical touch points previously.”
Her roster of deals runs deep already. She worked on the landlord side on behalf of Stellar Management in its successful effort to fill major store spaces at One SoHo Square. Crossman brought in Trader Joe’s and CVS — tenants that not only filled the space constructively but also helped amenitize that slice of Manhattan streetscape between SoHo and Hudson Square.
Speaking of Hudson Square, she is also helping rep the Walt Disney Company in filling its retail in its new campus there, though she declined to talk about what that mega-client is planning.
On the tenant side, Crossman’s clients have included Primark (the Irish retailer she helped land in Brooklyn’s City Point), Crate & Barrel, St. John Knits and Hudson Grace, a home decor and utensils vendor. Often, these deals are part of multimarket rollouts, so there are a lot of moving parts. —T.A.
