Elliot Karp, 34

Elliot Karp did not begin his career expecting to help lease some of the most important office buildings in New York City. 

After studying broadcast journalism and communications at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Karp imagined a career in sports media, and spent his first years after college in advertising and sales at TNT Sports.

But he soon started looking for a career that felt more challenging and motivating, and he found his way into commercial real estate leasing, first at SL Green Realty.

“SL Green took a chance on me with no real real estate experience, and I had an amazing three and a half years there,” Karp said. “They are a well-oiled machine.”

Karp also enrolled in New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate at night while working full time.

“I went to the Schack graduate program at night, so putting in long days, but the way I was thinking about it is that I’ve got to catch up a little bit,” Karp said.

Since joining Related in 2021, Karp has risen to vice president on the company’s commercial leasing team, working across a major national portfolio. That has included Deloitte’s 800,000-square-foot anchor pre-lease at 70 Hudson Yards, the 1.4 million-square-foot office tower Related and Oxford Properties are developing. The project secured $2.45 billion in financing, and is expected to become one of New York’s most significant post-pandemic office developments.

Karp has also played a role in approximately 800,000 square feet of re-leasing across existing Hudson Yards office buildings, including transactions with Covington & Burling, investment house Stonepeak, Visa and other tenants. Other assignments have included Shopify’s lease at 85 10th Avenue, L’Oréal at 10 Hudson Yards, lease-up activity at 55 Hudson Yards, and hedge fund Point72’s expansion at 50 Hudson Yards.

For Karp, the Deloitte deal underscored what it takes to move a major tenant into new construction after the pandemic.

The Deloitte lease spanned 800,000 square feet. “In a post-COVID world, not every company is prepared to make that large of a leap,” Karp said. The key to success was “understanding what motivates their decision, or what was important to them,” he said. “We were able to make Deloitte comfortable moving its New York headquarters to a brand-new office building.”