Bailey Caliban, 29
Senior commercial leasing associate at the Durst Organization
An intern is expected to get his hands dirty, but Bailey Caliban took it up a level.
Then a sophomore at the Catholic University of America who was studying for his bachelor’s in finance, Caliban had landed an internship at the Durst Organization. He was tasked with something one doesn’t typically see at a real estate firm: finding out soil prices for Durst’s various plantings around its portfolio.
“I’d call up pretending to be a farmer,” Caliban said. “I’d say, ‘I’m curious about what your soil prices are at the moment?’ ”
After making a few calls, Caliban got a good price from McEnroe Organic Farm in Millerton, N.Y. “Now we’re using McEnroe … throughout our buildings,” Caliban said.
Of course, that wasn’t the highlight of Caliban’s career, it was merely the opener. Caliban’s name is currently listed on approximately 2.3 million square feet of available assets. Earlier this year, he relocated Empire State Development — New York’s economic development arm — into 117,181 square feet at 655 Third Avenue.
A couple of blocks north, he helped the Child Mind Institute, a children’s mental health nonprofit, relocate and expand from its previous home at 445 Park Avenue into 81,810 square feet at Durst’s 825 Third Avenue, which recently got a $150 million renovation. (Since the renovation wrapped in October 2022, Caliban has helped lease up 35 percent of the building.)
When Commercial Observer spoke to Caliban in late November, he had already laid claim to 336,000 square feet of leases in 2023, with another 75,000 square feet expected to close by the end of the year.
But he hasn’t had to get soil prices in quite some time. However, the team does “send out fruit from the farm every once in a while.”
