An Evening of Cocktails and Celebration at CO’s 2026 Power Young Professionals Gala

While enjoying a beautiful summer evening atop New York City’s famed 120 Broadway, home of the Banker’s Club, Commercial Observer raised its glass Thursday evening to the honorees of this year’s Power Young Professionals awards. 

This year, CO highlighted 75 outstanding young professionals who have been making their mark on the real estate industry as brokers, finance leaders, developers, architects and more. Those honorees joined CO’s leaders, editors and reporters to celebrate the wins of their career so far and pump them up for what is still to come. 

CO Editor-in-Chief Max Gross welcomed everyone to the event, reminiscing on the very first iteration of Young Professionals and how far the issue, now a staff favorite, has come. 

“Young Professionals will always have a place in my heart,” Gross said. “In my first week as editor at Commercial Observer, our former business director — Robyn Reiss — comes up to me and says, ‘Next month we have a 30-under-30 list — which is basically 30 brokers under 30 years old that we’re shining a spotlight on. Good luck.’”

Gross had only two weeks to pull the issue together — interviews, photo shoots, the whole shebang — and it was a scramble, but he and his staff got it done. 

“The CO staff at the time was half the size and we were frantic. It really did feel like a trial by fire,” Gross added. “But we put our heads down and we did it. And now this list is 75 names. Now we draw from the world of finance, construction, architecture and engineering. It’s a far more well-oiled machine.”

Some of the Young Professionals in attendance on Thursday night included Thomas Swartz, senior vice president in brokerage at JLL. Swartz is a member of one of the firm’s most active leasing teams and has worked on the repositioning of Piedmont Realty Trust’s 60 Broad Street, a 1.1 million-square-foot office tower in Lower Manhattan. His team also oversees around 60 million square feet, 15 million square feet of which he personally supports.

Joining Swartz for drinks Thursday night was Alice Allan, senior associate at CannonDesign. Allan has worked on projects in the U.K. and India, and is now shifting her focus to the U.S. Some of those projects include a new health science center at St. John’s University in New York City, and new fitness and wellness space at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Thomas Farrell, executive director in debt organizations at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, also came to celebrate at the Banker’s Club. Farrell has worked at Barclays, where he did a massive $1.24 billion balance sheet loan so Blackstone could finance its acquisition of private real estate company Space Center. 

Construction firms J.T. Magen and Vanguard Construction co-sponsored Thursday night’s event, while 120 Broadway owner Silverstein Properties hosted the event. (And by the way, the event had the best appetizers in those little burrata cheese and sweet pepper bites — chef’s kiss.)

Joseph Artusa, senior vice president of leasing at Silverstein, joined Gross on stage to offer a few remarks in praise of CO’s hard work and the future success of the young people gathered — drinks in hand — on the building’s rooftop terrace. 

“Looking around this [rooftop], I see leaders who will help define what our future looks like,” Artusa said. “Real estate has always been a relationship driven business, that’s what makes evenings like this so meaningful. … Tonight, I’m here to honor a very special moment with young people in our business. So I’d like for all of you to raise your glasses to yourself, and on behalf of Silverstein Properties and the Commercial Observer, it is an honor and joy to celebrate the 2026 Young Professionals.”

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