Steven F. Jemal, 31

Sometimes real estate is a family business. For Steven F. Jemal, it’s something that he learned watching his uncle, Isaac Seruya. “He used to buy shopping centers,” said Jemal. “I shadowed him for two years.”

The interest led to an internship at Cohen Equities. “I think they [Meir Cohen and Teddy Chattah] just wanted someone to drive them around while they looked at properties, but after three days they realized I was a terrible driver,” Jemal said. “So they put me in the back seat making notes while the other intern drove.” 

Next was a job at Hirshmark Capital, which he held during his junior and senior years at Yeshiva University. “I went to all my classes in a suit,” Jemal remembered.

After graduation, he went to work for Shawn Safdie at S3. “It was a different kind of origination,” Jemal said thoughtfully. “Hirshmark was more opportunistic, and S3 is more loans to seasoned developers focusing on construction — but real estate is all about people, so I had the soft skills and trained on the job.”

In 2016, the same year he started at S3, he met Celi, who would become his wife. She had grown up in Florida, and he would accompany her to Hallandale Beach, Fla., for family visits. “Since I would go there to visit my in-laws, it was an easier market for me to start originating,” Jemal said. “We just closed a deal at Oasis Hallandale, which was really cool because that’s a site I would walk by.”

That deal, which was sealed in May, was a $112 million loan for a 250-unit tower. Jemal’s been busy: In the three and a half years since he started working in Florida, he has originated nearly $1 billion in the state.

Jemal continues to have a lot of balls in the air — he and Celi have two kids, ages 1 and 4 — but he hasn’t let that slow him. Overall, in the past 18 months, Jemal has been involved in more than $1.6 billion in overall loan originations.