Isaac Setton, 26

Isaac Setton began working at a residential brokerage in New Jersey at age 18, and immediately sensed that the job wasn’t for him.

“It was a little slower. I wasn’t in with the sharks, wasn’t in with the big boys,” said Setton. “I wasn’t really learning as much as I could have been. I didn’t see growth in that business for me.”

When he interviewed at commercial real estate firm KSR around a year later, he saw the sort of frenetic, inspiring activity he’d been hoping for. “There was a hustle, an energy in the office,” said Setton. “It was a bunch of guys a couple years older than me who were all hustling and grinding, all drive and energy. That’s what really made me go into it.”

He began working in multifamily, retail and office, but the pandemic saw him shift to industrial, and he has been “super active” in the sector since.

His first transaction, along with KSR’s Bunny Escava, was the 2019 sale of a mixed-use property at 799 Lexington Avenue for $7.5 million. The deal reinforced for him the importance of persistence.

“That owner was somebody I’d been on top of for a long time prior to actually getting him to sell,” said Setton.

Out of the more than 20 deals he estimates he’s closed in his career to date, Setton says he’s proudest of the 2022 sale of a 56,700-square-foot industrial property in Kearny, N.J., to Brookfield for $67.25 million.

“That was a very volatile time. Rates were climbing,” said Setton. “It was a very big deal. It beat a lot of records on price per acre.”

Setton continues to focus on industrial sales, much of it in northern New Jersey, and looks forward to seeing how far he can scale his portfolio. “I’m focusing on continuing to grow my business,” said Setton, “to become one of the largest industrial brokers in the Northeast.”