Jack Hurley, 28

Jack Hurley had one of those pinch-me internships before his senior year studying finance at the University of Scranton. He was working at Yankee Stadium in partnership sales, getting a close look at the symbiosis between sponsorship companies and the storied ballclub. 

Not bad for a kid born in New York City and raised just over the water in Northern New Jersey. 

“It was an unreal summer, especially for quote/unquote work,” Hurley recalled. 

In the end, though, finance didn’t do it for him. Hurley instead started what he describes as “a kind of internship” at Isa Realty Group at the end of 2018 after talking with Joe Isa, its founder. 

He never left. 

Hurley has become responsible for leasing some 40,000 square feet for retail owners in the Times Square area. His first big deal was 25,000 square feet for the event space and club Circo at 1604 Broadway in early 2023; and, in May 2023, he arranged a 10-year lease at 1580 Broadway for NY Bakery and Desserts’ flagship. 

That last tenant wanted to be in Times Square, and wanted to move fast. Leveraging his contacts with owners and his knowledge of the submarket, Hurley said he was able to close that deal in around 60 days from the initial tour of the space to the lease. 

Such knowledge was developed under the mentorship of Isa and Louis Franco, a partner and principal at the company. It was also born of starting his career on the cusp of a pandemic that turned Times Square into a ghost town — Hurley has a photo of him and his brother alone in the otherwise empty plaza in 2020. That teaches you to better understand market shifts and to work that much harder for leads, he said. 

“A comp from 2019 didn’t hold a lot of relevance for a comp from 2021,” Hurley said, “and a comp from 2021 didn’t hold a ton of relevance for 2022.”