Janet Mendez, Bromley Companies

Lately Janet Mendez has become very fascinated by the world of real estate development. Throughout the course of this semester’s internship, Janet has evolved from being set on a career in social service to being open to the possibilities of a career in the private (for profit) sector. I think this is a brilliant transition, and I'd even go so far to say that the world needs more women like Janet in real estate development and more men like Donald Trump in social work. Yes, let’s turn the tables for the better.

This internship has proven to be highly beneficial for all parties involved. The Bromley Company is a small real estate development firm located on 5th ave and 17th st. The firm has additional offices and holdings in Florida and Illinois. Janet works most closely with the firm’s office manager, Beverly Burchet and the Director of Strategic Planning and Business Development, Nicholas Haines. Thus far, Janet’s most substantial work has consisted of compiling a database of all hard copy file contents for each of the firm’s holdings. She has progressed through ten or more horizontal file drawers stuffed with years of tenant and vendor contracts. As her mentor Beverly said to me today, “these files are our business” and therefore Janet’s work has most certainly been meaningful and valuable for the firm.

Until now, the Bromley internship was Thursday only, simply because the firm had never hosted a high school intern and was unsure how such a situation would pan out in terms of matching available work with the intern’s skill level. Last week Janet suggested she begin coming both Tuesday and Thursday. Both Nick and Beverly agreed in large part because they have been so convinced by Janet’s enthusiasm and competency. The databasing project is nearly complete and Janet will now move on to a new project, much less clerical and more research based. Under Nick’s guidance, she will be researching development prospects for the firm, specifically in lots adjacent to city post offices. Janet will be looking at how to go about leasing the post office’s air rights for commercial development -- an interesting and potentially lucrative concept.