Remi Mandell, 27

Remi Mandell didn’t really know that she wanted to have a career in real estate until she interned with Ariel Property Advisors as a college senior. The native of Hewlett, Long Island, attended Cornell University’s vaunted school of hotel administration and minored in real estate but was open to all parts of the industry.

“Working at a brokerage firm would provide a good foundation for everything I would do in real estate, and I really liked the people,” Mandell said.

Mandell started as an investment sales analyst in 2018 before switching over to work with Ariel’s research and sales team, where she bridges the gap between the two divisions at the company. Her day-to-day responsibilities involve supporting her partners’ listings as well as analyzing properties and modeling most of Ariel’s institutional assets. Since joining the company, Mandell has served as the analyst for $11.6 billion in property evaluations covering more than 51 million square feet.

The work has made Mandell an expert in affordable housing finance. Even though expenses and insurance are rising for multifamily housing projects and financing rates remain high, Mandell still sees opportunity for investment in New York.

“Sometimes, with affordable housing, there’s an opportunity for accretive debt so people can step into the current shoes of the operator and take over the capital stack,” she said.

Last year, Mandell helped close the 818-unit Sea Park Portfolio in Coney Island, Brooklyn, on behalf of Related Companies and The Arker Companies for $150 million, and worked on the $45 million sale of the 334-unit Heighliner Portfolio that Asland Sustainable Housing Fund and partners purchased. 

But Mandell has been most excited about a contract for a big affordable housing deal in Far Rockaway, Queens, that is visible from Atlantic Beach, where she and her family spent many summers. “It’s cool to be able to point to something so close to home even though it’s in the five boroughs,” she said.