Leo Koné, 28

Leo Koné has always been head and shoulders above the competition. The Washington Heights native loved baseball but utterly dominated opponents’ offensive lines while at Dalton, becoming one of the rare prep school athletes to play for a Division 1 football team. 

“If you look up my highlights, I’m 6-foot-4 and 300 pounds playing against the Upper East Side guys who I work with now at Newmark,” he said. “They’re my best friends now.”

At Wake Forest, the defensive tackle played with future Atlanta Falcons safety Jessie Bates III and roomed with future Jacksonville Jaguars backup quarterback John Wolford. Alas, the NFL wasn’t in the cards. A football injury in college prompted Koné to consider alternatives for his future, and he zeroed in on real estate. 

“All of the parents at Dalton were in real estate, and I always loved architecture,” he said. 

Koné got an internship at RAL Development while in school and joined Lee & Associates after college. He moved back home when the pandemic happened and was contemplating grad school until a family friend suggested he meet Newmark executive David Falk for a change of scenery. Now Koné works with 10 people, and appreciates the camaraderie of being on a big team again.

“COVID happened and that was a big knockdown, but you have to brush yourself off, line up again, and try to go sack the quarterback,” he said. “The lows are low, the highs are high, but you have to stay even-keeled.”

Over the past year, Koné’s team worked with the Olnick Organization to lease 120,000 square feet at 130 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District. This spring, Koné also repped Radar Labs, which moved into 20,000 square feet at 111 Fifth Avenue, the biggest tenant rep deal of his career.

Koné doesn’t tackle anyone anymore. Instead, he attends as many Yankees games as he can and plays softball on a team that just won its league championship. “It was a 10-0 blowout, and I actually pulled my hamstring,” he said. “I hit a home run and pulled it running around the bases.”