Angela Gentry has carved out her own spot in New York City\u2019s commercial real estate scene.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Gentry, who at the time had more than 20 years of experience in the field, joined JLL<\/a> in a role specifically created for her: executive managing director of sales and platform for the New York tri-state area. She describes the role as being the \u201cultimate Switzerland\u201d for the brokerage, in that she focused on what was best for both the firm and its clients when it came to leasing and sales.<\/p>\n SEE ALSO: Mermaid Inn Restaurateurs Ink 2K SF at 61 West 74th Street for New Eatery<\/a><\/p>\n Then in May, Gentry was promoted to vice chairman of leasing advisory for the New York tri-state region, a position that doesn\u2019t yet exist in a similar way in JLL\u2019s other markets. Gentry\u2019s job is to take what JLL does really well brokerage-wise in New York City and scale it nationally. For one thing, the firm\u2019s certainly riding the artificial intelligence wave, as it\u2019s had a hand in several recent tech deals, including a 98,420-square-foot deal<\/a> for AI firm Legora at SL Green Realty\u2019s 11 Madison Avenue and a 13,754-square-foot lease<\/a> for Genius AI at ZG Capital Partners\u2019 838 Broadway.<\/p>\n Commercial Observer sat down with Gentry on Monday to discuss her work at JLL and what she\u2019s seeing in the city\u2019s office market as AI tenants take more and more space.<\/p>\n This interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n Commercial Observer: You joined JLL in 2022 and took a position created specifically for you. What was unique about that role?<\/b><\/p>\n Angela Gentry:<\/b> When I was first hired at JLL, I was the senior director for sales enablement. I was brought in to stand it up for the New York tri-state area. In that role, I built up the team that supports our brokers when they have a pitch or proposal that we\u2019re responding to. It\u2019s the team that leads through that.\u00a0<\/p>\n I was originally hired for that, and then after being here for a year and a half, I saw there was so much opportunity to take what we were doing and bringing more of a holistic approach. So being proactive about who we have relationships with on the client side, who we want to be targeting, and how we start to really align around clients and prospects earlier in the sales cycle.\u00a0<\/p>\n That role in itself didn\u2019t exist at JLL. That was where I was able to take what I was doing and create that role for myself.<\/p>\n I positioned my original role as the \u201cultimate Switzerland\u201d for the organization. I really looked at what\u2019s best for the firm and what\u2019s best for the client.<\/p>\n In May, you were <\/b>promoted<\/b><\/a> to vice chairman of leasing advisory in the tri-state. How did that transition go, and what have you worked on so far?<\/b><\/p>\n A lot of that promotion was aligning me in our national network of other office leads.<\/p>\n New York functions at just such an intense pace that is not necessarily matched in a lot of markets. We also have such a high revenue that we\u2019re able to make investments that other markets aren\u2019t, and a lot around recently in our data science and around tech and how we\u2019re bringing together some of the platforms.<\/p>\n So part of my responsibility is now taking the things that we\u2019re doing really well in New York and scaling those, or potentially exposing the rest of the organization so they can figure out what might make sense in their markets, since my role doesn\u2019t exist in the other markets.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve had some really exciting wins recently. It\u2019s a mixture of deals and relationship building.\u00a0<\/p>\n One is an account that we\u2019ve won. It\u2019s one we\u2019ve been tracking for since I\u2019ve been here, after really aligning and building relationships to really tee us up for when they would go out to bid.<\/p>\n Then a number of them are transactions here in New York. The financial services industry and AI and tech are still just coming out of the woodwork, and it\u2019s like there\u2019s not enough space for them. Some of our brokers are saying this is the busiest that it\u2019s ever been with activity and momentum.<\/p>\n So I think that\u2019s a sign of strength that we\u2019re seeing that, but then you have the naysayers on the other side that are waiting for the other shoe to drop. They\u2019re saying we\u2019re back in a bad market, and everyone\u2019s subleasing space.<\/p>\n How do you think office leasing trends will evolve as AI\u2019s presence grows?<\/b><\/p>\n There\u2019s going to be acquisitions in the AI space, similar to dot.com. Those firms will start to be acquired.<\/p>\n We\u2019re still seeing a lot of activity from San Francisco, and some of the firms that are there are interested in New York and want locations here in New York. That has not slowed down. If anything, I think it\u2019s really picked up.\u00a0<\/p>\n But we still get a lot of questions about talent. There\u2019s a lot of questions about whether it\u2019s sustainable for talent to stay and retain people in New York with the cost of living being what it is.\u00a0<\/p>\n Every decision takes a long time. You\u2019re committing years and years in advance, and so those types of conversations didn\u2019t come up before. You wouldn\u2019t have a client asking you about what\u2019s happening with the mayor. That wasn\u2019t something that came up in conversation, and now very much so \u2014 people are thinking and companies have to think about that and being able to attract talent. Those conversations are far more applicable today than ever before.<\/p>\n Do you think all the new office towers going up will balance out the demand for new office space?<\/b><\/p>\n