Alexander Bush.
Alexander Bush, 28
Director at Handler Real Estate
Alexander Bush was fresh out of college with an architecture degree and working as a project estimator for a construction company in San Diego when he realized spending time with clients and touring buildings with them was his favorite part of the gig. So, Bush decided that office leasing was the perfect fit, and figured there was no better place for it than the Big Apple.
“I thought to go big or go home,” he said. “If you’re going to do it, do it in New York. I didn’t know many people out here, I just picked up the phone and I just started cold-calling.”
It worked out for Bush. He landed a job as a broker at Redwood Property Group in 2016 and, in 2019, joined the Handler Real Estate Organization, where he’s a member of both the leasing team, managing the landlord’s portfolio, as well as its third-party tenants representation team.
Bush was recently promoted to director and, in the past year, signed software company Ocrolus to an 18,500-square-foot relocation and expansion at 101 Greenwich Street and fintech firm Octane Lending to 15,000 square feet at 116 West 32nd Street.
Even during the coronavirus lockdown, Bush was able to sign Merson Law, which is handling many of the cases for Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, to an 8,500-square-foot deal at 950 Third Avenue.
Bush has devoted much of the pandemic to working with Handler’s current tenants, and figuring out solutions for them once workers start returning to the office.
“These are uncertain times, and everybody just sort of has questions,” he said. “Really, what it’s been is, being there for our clients and helping them navigate the craziness.”
Activity has started to pick up for Handler in recent weeks, with Bush giving plenty of virtual and in-person tours to prospective tenants. And his architecture and construction background has come in handy throughout his career, but especially now, as he’s able to be a one-stop shop for clients to help with floor plans and cost estimates during tours.
Bush was born and raised in San Diego and graduated from Arizona State University. While he said he still loves the West Coast, he knew immediately that, when he wanted to get into office leasing, New York was the only place for him.
“San Diego is more of a surfer town,” he said. “It has that mindset that five o’clock hits, and everyone grabs their surfboard and goes home. I found that boring, to say the least. It didn’t have that excitement, it didn’t have that drive,” he added.
In his spare time, Bush likes to travel around the world and explore New York City. He recently got engaged, and lives on the Upper East Side.
