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during that time, and its next major
project will soon open just south of
the Journal Square Transportation
Center, where Kushner is developing
the two-tower, 1,723-unit property
known as The Journal.
“We love that we’re so concentrated
in this area, because once we know
about each building and how we’re
going to brand it, it enables us, with
such a concentration of product, to
differentiate each brand and really be
able to come up with a customized
solution to make each one successful,”
Urgo said. “Because the big question
from developers today is: What
are you going to do with all this
inventory?”
Brady, an executive vice president
for sales and leasing, added: “The
competition is great, because two
buildings bring three people to the
neighborhood. And it just builds and
builds.”
The fi rm, which focuses exclusively
on new construction, has a long-
established business model to ensure
success at its clients’ buildings. That
largely hinges on having in-house, W2
employees rather than brokers who
are independent contractors, Urgo
said, giving them the full support of
management and giving management
greater control over the process.
Equally critical is that each team
member works on just one building
at a time and can only garner their
income from that property for the
duration of the assignment. That
means they can’t refer to another
building and are truly incentivized to
convert every prospect. Couple that
with The Marketing Directors’ rigorous
training program, which begins before
the team arrives for a new assignment
and continues weekly.
“Whether they’ve been with us for
one day or 15 years, they go through
a training boot camp prior to being
assigned any other job,” Urgo said.
“They learn the speed of the elevators,
the thickness of the glass … Our
teams are armed with the knowledge
of how to sell and build value with
each feature that the developer spent
money on to make their building
better and different.”
She added that its agents typically
stay on site until the property is fully
leased, noting that “the last home is
almost more important than the fi rst
home, because the profi t is at the
end for a developer.” Then comes
“a smooth handover” to the client’s
in-house management teams, along
with the opportunity for the owner to
refi nance and for its building to “have
a reputation that they have a following
and consistent prospect fl ow.”
Still, the fi rm’s services often begin
years before a building hits the market
or even years before a shovel hits
the ground. It has an experienced
research team that tracks sales and
leasing activity in the region, as well
as incentives, broker commissions,
amenity fees and many other metrics,
providing valuable insights that a
developer can use when deciding
whether to buy a site or evaluating a
potential project.
The Marketing Directors then crafts
recommendations for fl oorplans, unit
mix, fi nishes and common areas that
it feels would be appropriate for the
building’s size and location. All of
which becomes a sort of cheat sheet
for the developer’s architect, initiating
a process that continues through
design and development.
“That product development part is
very important,” Urgo said. “We don’t
just throw developers’ money at the
The Marketing Directors’ high-profi le assignments in New Jersey have included
managing the lease-up for KRE Group’s three-phase, 1,838-unit Journal Squared project
on Pavonia Avenue in Jersey City.
wall. We want to make sure that we
highlight the most impactful points
that a prospect comes in to see …
(And) we design that product to fulfi ll
the needs of that target market.”
Doing so can be challenging in
an untested market, as Journal
Square was a decade ago, but The
Marketing Directors has shown
that it can navigate that uncertainty.
For the fi rst phase of KRE Group’s
pioneering Journal Squared project,
for instance, the team not only found
the appropriate price point relative
to other more established sections of
Jersey City, but took extra steps to
attract renters to the lesser known
neighborhood.
That meant offering somewhat
larger apartments and “a plethora of
amenities early on to drive people to
this location,” Urgo said. “And then
we were able to scale back a little on
the size but upgrade the fi nish level”
for subsequent phases, as momentum
grew in the area.
“It’s really a well-thought-out plan to
bring on 1,900 units in three buildings
over a 10-year period — in the same
location,” she added.
The success of the KRE project also
refl ects the growth and sustainability
of Journal Square as a submarket,
Urgo and Brady said. They noted
that the fi rst two Journal Squared
buildings never went below 98 percent
occupancy while they leased the 598-
unit third phase.
Their team is seeing similar
momentum in many other areas —
from Bayonne, Harrison and other
sections of Jersey City to the Jersey
Shore and the Hudson Valley.
“There was a small period where we
were in design-development for a lot
of buildings because they were having
trouble getting their fi nancing, but
that’s coming back,” Urgo said.
“It’s been a very good stretch,” Brady
added. “And it’s a very, very busy
stretch going into ’25, ’26 and ’27.” RE
Photo by Mean Genius/Courtesy: KRE Group