John Silviano featured in The Top 100 People in Real Estate Magazine
John Silviano’s career in real estate unexpectedly evolved out of a high school job working in a jewelry store located in his hometown of Whitestone, Queens, owned by a man named Frank Barone. During that time, John befriended Frank’s son, Scott, and after working under his tutelage for four years, joined Scott as principal and partner of his namesake firm, Barone Management, which was previously founded in 1999. Today, John still serves in that role, leading the New York City-based construction and development firm in major projects throughout the five boroughs. Having established a reputation within the industry as an aggressive and savvy dealmaker, at just 36 he has also been named on the Top 40 Under 40 list for the City and State publication. Under his supervision, Barone has taken on larger and more complex commercial projects throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, in addition to multifamily, office, educational, and industrial projects. Today, the company has over 1 million square feet of real estate transactions under its belt in and around New York.
As a principal, John is involved in all aspects of the company, with a key focus on day-to-day management, new deal sourcing, underwriting, financing of current deals, and managing investor relations. He also handles Barone’s construction management division, where he oversees budgets, code compliance, job scheduling, and signoffs. Furthermore, John is a New York City certified site safety manager, a challenging recognition to obtain.
His first significant project with Barone dates back to 2012, characterized by a sophisticated, 99-year ground lease in Hudson Square upon which a large, ground-up hotel development was constructed. Shortly after commencing construction, the project was acquired by a London-based hedge fund, proving to be a financial success and shifting the firm’s focus solely to developing properties for its own account with an emphasis on long term ownership.
If that 2012 deal was any indication, John never shies away from large, complex deals with many moving parts and multiple intricacies that must be delicately balanced among various parties. Another more recent example is reflected in a ground lease in Long Island City, Queens, which also entailed a New York City tax abatement program, two tiers of lender, and ultimately six parties with, at times, competing interests. Furthermore, Barone’s recent endeavors have focused on the charter school space, a largely untapped market sector prior to Barone’s foray into this niche industry, characterized by complicated non-profit structuring coupled with rewarding social impact investment.
However, no matter the size or complexity of a project, John and his team consistently see it through to fruition and have never defaulted on a loan or other obligation. Importantly, since the company has a time-tested foundation in addition to the agility that accompanies self-funding, they can withstand market pressures that many other companies cannot. Today, Barone’s entrepreneurial approach to construction and development has propelled the company’s growth into a realm that never-before seemed possible. Despite an often unstable and unpredictable market, Barone has achieved consistency by employing a keen focus on an outside-of-the-box approach to its craft. In fact, the firm has developed such a steady pipeline of projects that it is actively recruiting new members to its team to juggle the numerous obstacles it encounters. And John is excited about the prospect of working with new people. “I tell my staff to question everything,” he says. “And as a company, we offer stability, excitement, and growth.”
Read the original article at https://www.thetop100magazine.com/john-silviano