Alex D’Amario.
Alex D’Amario, 28
First Vice President at CBRE
Pandemics are not great for commercial real estate — but, when your main project is One Vanderbilt Avenue, you’re somewhat immune.
Alex D’Amario works on both tenant and ownership representation in office leasing at CBRE. One of the eight assets D’Amario is working on is the lease-up of SL Green Realty’s One Vanderbilt, the 93-story office tower next door to Grand Central Terminal that opened late last year.
D’Amario was part of the team that closed on a 97,652-square-foot lease with Stone Ridge Capital, with rental rates well above $200 per square foot. That deal closed in August, in the midst of the pandemic. That was just one deal that brought the property to more than 90 percent leased.
D’Amario grew up in a small upstate New York town, where he and his three brothers all played lacrosse. “It was the only thing that was going on out there, in upstate, and we were pretty good at it,” he said.
D’Amario played through college, where he studied economics and computer science and hoped to pursue a career in commercial real estate. His first efforts failed, however, and he ended up in tech sales instead. After several years beefing up his sales skills, D’Amario used them to network within the commercial real estate community.
Through Sarah Pontius, a graduate from his alma mater, Union College, D’Amario gained entry into CBRE.
D’Amario has also worked with Mary Ann Tighe on several deals for the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, including an expansion at 777 Third Avenue in July 2020. The group has expanded several times, growing from 10,000 to 27,000 square feet over a period of several years.
D’Amario takes advantage of being surrounded by so many real estate pros, which affords the opportunity to learn from the best. “It’s just like sports,” he said. “If you can take the best parts of [every] individual’s game and try to mimic them, you’d be a really good player.”—C.G.
