Bryan Lapidus, 30

Commercial real estate development has been Bryan Lapidus’s calling from an early age.

“Real estate has been a topic of conversation my whole life,” said Lapidus, the son of L&L Holding Company co-founder Robert Lapidus. “I like to see a tangible outcome to the work I do. And what’s more tangible than a building and the work a team puts into it?”

Lapidus returned to the New York area after studying business administration at the University of Michigan and worked first for OC Construction Management before moving to L&L Holding Company, where he now serves as a vice president of development.

Probably his most ambitious project to date is the redevelopment of the 1.3 million-square-foot Terminal Warehouse, the historic industrial property on Manhattan’s far West Side that L&L Holding, along with Columbia Property Trust and Cannon Hill Partners, are transforming into a modern workplace. Lapidus described it as his “passion project.”

“It was such an amazing project with every complication you could imagine,” Lapidus said. “It’s a 135-year-old timber building built in a place that used to not exist since Manhattan used to end at 10th Avenue.” 

There were issues with the building’s foundation, structural issues, landmark issues — the list goes on, Lapidus said. “It’s a really, really cool, one-of-a-kind project,” he added.

Lately, Lapidus has been splitting his time between New York and Miami, where he’s helping build the $450 million Wynwood Plaza, which will contain 509 luxury apartments plus office and retail space. So far, Lapidus said the ground-up development has thrown the development team fewer curveballs.

“It’s limestone down there in Miami, so there’s no crazy foundation issues,” Lapidus said. “We’re designing something new rather than figuring out what an old structure can handle. So it’s a much straighter path.”