now serves as a broad member for the organization. “I enrolled in the Philadelphia Futures (now Heights Philadelphia), a scholarship program that seeks to connect Black, brown and first-generation youth with career and college opportunities,” Burgos highlights. Always civic-minded, Burgos also serves on the Tacony community development board. Burgos, a Temple University graduate who grew up in Philadelphia and attended the city’s public schools, initially studied tourism, hospitality, and international business. While studying, his interest in real estate emerged during these pivotal college years. Observing friends move off campus and navigate the rental process sparked his curiosity about property ownership and development. His interest in real estate blossomed further when his brother would visit him often on campus and the two would discuss rental processes. His brother strongly encouraged forming a partnership that would focus on real estate, which initially started with looking into ways to buy a property on campus. That interest led to an internship with PRDC Properties, where he started in an administrative role, and gradually gained exposure to all aspects of a major mixed use development. One of his formative experiences was working on the Heid Building, a former hat factory converted into 97 apartments with a large commercial space. “I was able to see that literally from framing all the way through finishes,” he recalls. “I got to see what commercial real estate looks like on a high level. Most people start in residential, and then they move to commercial, but I started in commercial and then I learned residential.” That experience gave Burgos a broad view of large scale development, including trade coordination, timelines, and project management. “During that process, the project managers, Charlie, who had over 25 years of experience under his belt, and Roney never held back in answering any questions that I had, or teaching me as much as he possibly could. So he was a huge part in mentoring me in the early 22 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 13, ISSUE 01
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