Career path and realignment at Brown Harris Stevens
Over his twenty-year career, Joshua Young has established himself as a prominent figure in the real estate markets of New York and Miami Beach. After the former St. John’s University Division I baseball player began his career in 2006 as a project manager at advisory firm Cantor Pecorella, he joined Brown Harris Stevens as Executive Vice President in November 2021. In June 2025, he founded the Young New Development Group there, focusing on the marketing, leasing and sales of new-build schemes. At the time of his appointment, BHS Chief Executive Bess Freedman highlighted his extensive experience across all areas of the residential and commercial sectors.
Prior to his current leadership role, Young oversaw, among other projects, the development and sale of exclusive speculative luxury villas on North Bay Road in Miami Beach for To Better Days Building. At the time, these properties achieved historic record prices in the market. Delivering large-scale waterfront schemes involved substantial construction challenges, but afforded Young profound insights into complex development phases.
Conceptual advisory and architectural milestones
Young considers his foremost career success to be not individual sales records, but his early involvement in the concept design of major schemes by leading developers. His team collaborates closely with industry heavyweights such as Douglaston Development, Atlas, Tavros, Vornado and Rockefeller. The Young New Development Group contributes to projects from the outset, starting with unit mixes and floor plans through to fit-out specifications, market positioning and pricing strategy.
Recent milestones include the sales launch for the 175 East 82nd Street project by Douglaston Development. The architectural design of the striking brick facade and the interiors was conceived by John Cetra and Nancy Ruddy of practice CetraRuddy, with whom Young had already worked at the start of his career in 2005.
- —Steven Charno, President of Douglaston Development, taught him strong leadership alongside reliability and adherence to deadlines.
- —Peter Fine, founder of Atlantic Development Group, encouraged him to make decisive, purposeful decisions on core commercial matters.
- —Andy Cohen of Atlas Capital and BHS Chief Executive Bess Freedman demonstrated how essential empathy and clear values are for dependable partnerships.
A situation during an earlier closing illustrates that the new development business occasionally requires unconventional solutions alongside strategic planning: when the sellers unexpectedly wanted to remove an essential appliance shortly before signing, the transaction was on the verge of collapsing, but the deal was ultimately salvaged by the express delivery of a replacement directly to the negotiating table.
