Jamie Schwartz of Hudson Valley iCampus On Five Things You Need To Know To Succeed In The Real Estate Industry
An Interview With Jason Hartman
Don’t listen to the outside noise. No matter what, believe in yourself. Don’t let outside forces, including your employer, inhibit you from achieving your goals.
As a part of my series about the ‘Five Things You Need To Know To Succeed In The Real Estate Industry’, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jamie Schwartz.
Jamie Schwartz is the President of Hudson Valley iCampus, a 2-million-square-foot, 25-building portfolio of life sciences, pharma, warehouse, industrial, flex and office space on 207 acres in Pearl River, N.Y. Schwartz is responsible for all leasing, marketing, operations, management, construction and development of the property, as well as the operations of the onsite 23-megawatt central utility plant. Prior to being named President of Hudson Valley iCampus by Industrial Realty Group, LLC in 2021, Schwartz spent 18 years as Executive Vice President of GHP Office Realty, LLC in White Plains, N.Y. He was responsible for overseeing the leasing, management and construction of GHP’s multimillion-square-foot portfolio, as well as managing GHP’s third-party broker representation business. Schwartz also was an integral member of the acquisitions, sales and debt-placement teams as well as a seasoned investor.
Throughout his career, Schwartz has negotiated and closed new leases, renewals, financings, acquisitions and sales deals worth more than $2 billion and comprising approximately 12 million square feet. Schwartz also is an experienced attorney specializing in commercial real estate transactions and financing, litigation, and entertainment law.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to the Real Estate industry?
In law school I became interested in real estate law. I started practicing landlord/tenant litigation at a law firm in New York City after law school. That experience taught me how to think on my feet since I had to appear in court before judges every day. From there, I went on to Robert Martin Co., a prominent commercial real estate owner/developer in Westchester County, as assistant general counsel. I was initially hired to deal with L&T issues with the company’s 200 commercial tenants. Eventually I was able to expand my expertise to include transactional commercial real estate — negotiating and drafting purchase and sale agreements, financing documents, performing closings for acquisitions and sales as well as negotiating and drafting commercial leases. Since the legal team was part of the leasing department, I not only became an expert leasing attorney but also was able to learn the business side of commercial real estate.
After eight years at Robert Martin, I had an opportunity to go into the music business, as Senior Vice President of business and legal affairs at Loud Records (an RCA Records/BMG company, having annual sales of $100 million at the time). After my stint at Loud Records, I raised a few million dollars from investors and started a new media business that created lifestyle internet portals focused on different music genres.
Then the internet bubble burst so I returned to my roots as an attorney, practicing commercial real estate and entertainment law at a boutique law firm in NYC. I ended up joining one of my clients, GHP Office Realty LLC, in White Plains N.Y., not as an attorney but as Executive Vice President. I spent about 18 years at GHP and was responsible for the leasing, management, and construction as well as legal oversight, of their multimillion-square foot office, flex, warehouse and retail portfolio.
In August 2021, Industrial Realty Group, LLC (IRG) hired me to turn around and lead one of their underperforming assets, a 2-million-square-foot, multi-tenanted campus, located on 207 acres in Pearl River, N.Y., that it purchased in 2015. I immediately re-branded the property as Hudson Valley iCampus and reintroduced the campus to the brokerage community, local governments and the overall market, while at the same time building a new best-in-class management team. Since my hiring, we have closed new lease and renewal deals with life sciences, biomed, manufacturing and warehouse tenants totaling approximately 337,500 square feet and having a value in excess of $40 million.
Do you have a favorite “life lesson quote”? Can you share a story or example of how that was relevant to you in your life?
My parents instilled a strong work ethic in me. My dad once told me, “When you look out the window and you see the masses of people, that’s mediocrity. If you want to accomplish anything in life you have to rise above mediocrity.”
That resonated with me. I’m not one of those people who aces an exam without studying. I did well in school, but I worked hard for those grades. I have continued that mentality of hard work throughout my professional career.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
We are currently working on many new and exciting projects at Hudson Valley iCampus, including creating a work-live-play environment that will foster an atmosphere of innovation and ingenuity for life sciences, biomed, manufacturing and warehouse tenants.
By transforming Hudson Valley iCampus into a place where companies can innovate and thrive, we are able to contribute to the economic ecosystem by supporting the local community and county by creating jobs, supporting local businesses and increasing the tax base.
The property has been known for its historic breakthroughs, including vaccines for smallpox, typhoid, polio and more. Hudson Valley iCampus has continued this tradition of historic breakthroughs from tenants such as Pfizer and its Covid-19 mRNA vaccine, Sanofi’s flu vaccine and other innovative products from companies such as Momentive Performance Materials, Anellotech, Olaplex, and Auro Vaccines — companies constantly innovating and changing the world.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
There are a number of things that make Hudson Valley iCampus stand out. The campus has 2 million square feet of space in 25 buildings on 207 acres, so not only is it a bucolic place to work, but it also has the infrastructure in place to support manufacturing and lab facilities. This is very cost-effective for companies and reduces the time required for them to commence operations. It can be cost-prohibitive, especially for smaller companies, to build from scratch or to convert existing office buildings to create lab space and associated infrastructure.
Another unique feature of Hudson Valley iCampus is that we operate an onsite 23-megawatt, state-of-the-art central utility plant (CUP). The CUP delivers energy-efficient, cost-effective electricity, steam and chilled water with an N+1 and N+2 redundancy (minimizes loss of utilities) to campus tenants.
Let’s now jump to the main core of our interview. Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the Real Estate industry? If you can please share a story or example.
The growth of the life sciences and biomed industries. For us, this is very exciting since we have the product type to accommodate the growing demand for these industries.
Another exciting aspect of commercial real estate is that you get to connect with all different types of companies in many diverse industries. For example, one of our tenants created a Covid-19 vaccine based on mRNA technology at our campus.
Also, I love all aspects of commercial real estate including negotiating and closing deals, marketing, legal, as well as construction and operations.
Ok, here is the main question of our interview. You are a “Real Estate Insider”. If you had to advise someone about 5 non-intuitive things one should know to succeed in the Real Estate industry, what would you say? Can you please give a story or an example for each?
- Know that you know nothing. For young people, or anyone just starting out in the real estate industry, be a sponge. Listen, ask questions, absorb and learn.
- Don’t assume anyone is smarter than you. Once you have some experience, be confident. Take courses to constantly expand your knowledge base.
- Have a diligent work ethic and a good attitude. A willingness to work hard and a good attitude are incredibly valuable assets. I’d rather have someone on my team with those traits as opposed to someone with only great academic credentials and/or skills. Skills and business can be taught, but a good work ethic and attitude cannot.
- Lead by example. My management style has been forged from my experiences with all the managers I’ve worked for in my professional career (good and bad). I try to treat everyone the same way I’d like to be treated, with mutual respect and dignity. I give my team the credit for the good and I take the blame for the bad.
- Don’t listen to the outside noise. No matter what, believe in yourself. Don’t let outside forces, including your employer, inhibit you from achieving your goals.
Because of your position, you are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I am passionate about supporting STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — for students of all ages. I’m very inspired when I walk around our campus and see all the young scientists. We are planning a Hudson Valley iCampus STEM Day for spring 2023, inviting local school districts to participate in educational demonstrations, games and other exciting activities with our life science and biomed tenants.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-schwartz-a5766522/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/hudson-valley-icampus/
https://www.facebook.com/hvicampus
https://www.instagram.com/hudsonvalleyicampus/
Thank you for your time, and your excellent insights! We wish you continued success.
