Thomas Henderson, 29

Thomas Henderson got his first taste of commercial leasing at his first real estate job at the full-service firm George Comfort & Sons, and quickly realized he was in the right industry.

“I love that world,” said Henderson, who earned an economics degree at the University of Miami. “I love the ability to constantly create relationships with the brokerage community — it’s the biggest cast of characters in New York City.”

Henderson joined owner Savanna in 2022. He mainly focuses on office leasing.

“I love the complexity of the transactions we deal with in New York City,” said Henderson. “It gets very detail-
oriented, and being involved from a project-level standpoint, seeing the construction through all the way to getting the tenant in there and keeping their tenancy, you get to see how happy people can be. It’s a win-win job.”

Notable deals Henderson has been part of at Savanna include a recently completed 10-year lease for a 33,000-square-foot floor at One Court Square for the nonprofit Pursuit; a 350,000-square-foot lease in 2022 in the same building to the New York City School Construction Authority; and a 645,000-square-foot lease in 2023 at 110 William Street to the New York City Administration for Children’s Services that was the second-largest new lease transaction in the U.S. that year.

Henderson discusses that last deal as his most challenging, saying it took several years to execute as the capital markets fell on rough times and construction costs skyrocketed while they worked to complete the deal.

“That was a crazy deal and one I was very fortunate to work on. It taught me a lot,” said Henderson. “I think the most important lesson it taught me is to hit every issue one step at a time. If you worry about the hundred things that are going wrong while trying to navigate one issue, you’re never going to get anything done.”