Scott Benson, 29

Benson has translated his early experience with shopping and the experience surrounding it into a career on the brokerage side of retail after graduating from the University of Delaware. He did a brief stint in investment sales at Marcus & Millichap, and has been at Metro Commercial for six years. Benson reps retail tenants regionally and nationally as vice president of brokerage services there.

His active client roster includes The Edge Fitness Clubs, Krispy Kreme, Geico, Drive Shack and Sola Salon Studios.

That’s the tenant side. On the landlord end, he focuses on project leasing and sales for clients that include Brandywine Realty Trust, Brickstone Companies, Kimco, Ashkenazy Acquisition and PMC Property Group.

Benson’s biggest deal yet involved the 2019 sale of a mixed-use property at 1618 Chestnut Street in downtown Philadelphia for $30.8 million (he was on the buyer’s side). His biggest deal over the past 12 months involved signing Steak 48 to a 12,000-square-foot location in the Atlantic, an old office building reimagined as a mixed-use complex, also in downtown Philly (Benson worked both sides of the deal).

That was in January. Since then, like most who draw a living from retail dealmaking, Benson has been working while awaiting a return to some semblance of normalcy. He’s bullish nonetheless on the sector’s return — and, more importantly, on the return of the vibrancy of cities.

He also said there’s more consumer confidence out there than people realize. There’s been a silver lining throughout the pandemic, too, as Benson sees it.

“The whole thing has really strengthened our bonds with clients and people in the industry,” he said. “People’s responsiveness and willingness to help each other, in my career, is definitely the highest it’s been.”