Madison Vitale, 31

Madison Vitale is on a mission to bring more housing to New York City. As a project manager for owner and developer the Durst Organization, Vitale oversees every part of a building’s construction — from the scheduling, budgets and design to making sure subcontractors and construction crews stay on task.

She’s been with the company seven years and came on full time after a college internship with Durst. On her first day on the job in 2017, the University of Buffalo grad — she earned a master’s in architecture there, too — started working on Sven, the ground-up, 70-story, 958-unit rental tower in Long Island City, Queens. The project also included ancillary buildings, a public park and a subway entrance renovation. 

“It was a lot to manage and work through, especially for a first project,” Vitale said.

She was also crucial in determining how to create a safe working environment during COVID-19. The Sven project halted in March 2020, but the site’s 600 workers were brought back two months later in staggered shifts. The building was finished with “not much of a schedule delay and no budget delay,” she added. The intimate topping-out in June 2020, with just the people who worked on the project, is one of her proudest moments in the role.

These days Vitale is managing the development of two mixed-use towers that will bring 647 residences to Astoria, Queens, as part of the Halletts Point master plan. Under Vitale’s leadership, the project aims to open to residents in 2025. 

Vitale, for her part, doesn’t want to slow down. “We’ll build over 1,500 apartments in about five years,” she said. “Hopefully we could build another 1,500 more.”