New York Metro region preconstruction manager Samantha Carretero was honored as a Top Young Professional by Commercial Observer, recognized as a future leader in the commercial real estate industry. Read more about why Sam was selected below and in her Commercial Observer profile here.

Throughout her career, Sam’s roles have included superintendent, overseeing project sites with hundreds of tradespeople, and now preconstruction manager. With Shawmut’s expanding portfolio of larger, more complex projects coupled with the challenges the industry is currently facing—volatility with the supply chain, an aging and shrinking workforce, and more—preconstruction is more important than ever.

In her role, Sam provides strategy to ensure that every project is poised for successful execution, leveraging her 10 years of field experience. She is instrumental in driving project goals and key deliverables, ensuring that all milestones are met with precision and excellence. She brings tremendous value through her keen understanding of what it takes to bring clients’ visions to life, highly collaborative approach, meticulous attention to detail, and knack for innovation.

Sam has a passion for coming up with creative solutions to complex problems and is always looking for new ways to innovate, reevaluating processes or piloting new technologies. This approach has earned her the respect of her team, clients, and project partners.  

Sam is currently working on the Barclays Center’s Suite Level B transformation. As part of the largest renovation in the arena’s history, this project will diversify the venue’s premium offerings and increase overall club capacity, creating two new and distinct open-concept, premium membership clubs, The Row and The Key.

Sam has worked on some of the most complex projects in iconic, historic New York City buildings—spanning commercial, hospitality, repositioning, and institutional work. Her first project was in the iconic Paramount Building, relocating the 1501 Broadway lobby entrance from Broadway to West 43rd Street—one of the first projects that was part of the repositioning trend in New York. The project included intensive and innovative structural work along with historic preservation and renovation.

Sam takes pride in transferring her love for historic redevelopment to everyone involved in her projects. She understands that doing complex structural work within a historic building presents a dichotomy—there are fine, fragile, priceless materials that need to be preserved in the midst of using heavy equipment. She works with engineers and trade partners to ensure they honor the value of the materials—pointing out considerations that wouldn’t be needed on other types of projects.