Katherine Salvatori, 28

Only around 10 months into her role as a project manager for RXR, Katherine Salvatori is leading one of New York City’s largest mixed-use developments, overseeing the full life cycle of this and many other projects from entitlement to operations. 

A career in real estate was always the goal for Salvatori. Both parents were in the industry, and she said she grew up listening to conversations about architecture and design, while perusing the lease plans lying around their Sarasota, Fla., home. But it would be an experience she had as a freshman in college that would ultimately solidify her career choice. 

She’d met billionaire developer Larry Silverstein and headed to the top of the World Trade Center to see what was being built and get a glimpse behind the scenes. 

“I just remember thinking this is so exciting and exactly the type of thing I’d ultimately love to do one day,” she said. 

Salvatori interned at Hines and Goldman Sachs, and worked as a development analyst for JBG Smith while earning a master’s at M.I.T., before finding her way to office heavyweight BXP. 

During her time with BXP, she managed office repositioning and amenity redevelopments at 510 Madison Avenue, 360 Park Avenue South and 399 Park Avenue, managing these projects from design coordination through construction and turnover.

Now with RXR, Salvatori is the development and transaction adviser for the Metropolitan Park project, an $8.1 billion, 78-acre mixed-use development near Queens’ Citi Field. The project is a joint venture between Point72 and Hard Rock International, with Salvatori managing coordination with city agencies, approving design reviews, permitting, schedule management and entitlements.

The vision for the development is a year-round entertainment and sports destination, with a Hard Rock hotel and casino, bars, restaurants, food halls and major transit and infrastructure improvements to the Mets-Willets Point train station. 

“This is a five-year project. We got our gaming licence in December of last year, which was really exciting, and that started the clock,” Salvatori said. “We’ve started early foundation work, and I’m super excited to see it. It’s really been rewarding because of the scale, complexity and ambition of the project.”