Greg Albert.
Greg Albert, 26
Assistant Director at Savills
Despite joining Savills only three years ago, Greg Albert has already made an impact. As an assistant director, he’s been charged with moving more than 20 textile tenants out of 295 Fifth Avenue to other New York City buildings.
Those tenants range space-wise from 1,000 to 30,000 square feet. Albert helped relocate them along Fifth Avenue, between 20th and 39th streets, while the more than 100-year-old 295 Fifth Avenue building is undergoing a $350 million renovation into boutique offices.
But that’s not the only feather in Albert’s cap. Albert helped find a new 40,738-square-foot Manhattan headquarters at 275 Madison Avenue for Lord & Taylor — another company that made the right call wagering on the Big Apple, he said.
“Even though 2020 was a very uncertain year in terms of office leasing in New York City, these tenants all decided to bet on New York City,” Albert said. “They got a great deal because you know they bet on their city and they want to be here.”
Albert knew he wanted to get into New York City’s property business from the jump, after majoring in real estate at Syracuse University. He started out as an office leasing associate at the Kaufman Organization, hunting intensely for deals.
“I was knocking on doors in the Garment District every day, asking people if they needed new offices,” Albert said. “Eventually some people said yes, and that’s when it got really fun … I like that [real estate] is a physical asset, you can see and touch it, and when you’re walking down the streets you can walk by a building [and know] that you helped put a company’s office in that building.”
When not making deals or knocking on doors, Albert indulges in what he called an “unhealthy relationship” with the New York Knicks. He said he loved going to games in person pre-pandemic.—C.Y.
