Alex OConnor.
Alex O’Connor, 31
Senior Vice President at L&L Holding Company
As far as celebrated New York real estate firms go, L&L Holding Company is one of the top. Alex O’Connor is a key member of the firm’s acquisitions team and also leading its expansion into Florida — sourcing and executing new investments there.
“We’re less active in New York just because the transaction volume has fallen so much there,” O’Connor said. “So we’ve been keeping busy in Florida in the meantime and very active down here. We have a large project in Wynwood. We’ve been finalizing the design and should break ground later this year. We also just closed on a large site in West Palm Beach.”
South Florida’s “great demographic story” is what appeals to L&L, O’Connor said. “We’re seeing a lot of new-to-market tenants, people who were not here before, and high-paying financial services jobs. We see this trend continuing — it’s a business-friendly environment, and the people who are moving here tend to be well-compensated.”
Before he flew South, O’Connor’s biggest deal was TSX Broadway, L&L’s $2.5 billion mixed-use development in Times Square. Shortly after joining the firm in 2017, he played a significant role in the acquisition and equity raise for the site.
Outside of his role at L&L, O’Connor is passionate about teaching future real estate leaders. Since May 2020, he’s served as an adjunct professor at NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate. “I love the industry and feel lucky to have found real estate, compared to other sectors of investment like private equity and investment banking,” O’Connor said.
He got his start on the advisory side, working on Darcy Stacon’s team at CBRE, and found it to be “the best training you could ask for,” he said. “I tell my students, in an advisory role, you work on a large volume of deals with different profiles and you meet a lot of people very quickly.”
He then went to AR Global Investments in 2014, before joining L&L.
“The early part of my career was really focused on New York City office transactions,” O’Connor said. “I’d always admired L&L because they had some of the most exciting projects in the city and did everything to the absolute highest standard. I felt like I could work there, and be extremely proud of the product.”—C.C.
