Andrew Carlino has been named partner at Pillar Real Estate Advisors, a full-service real estate brokerage firm that represents buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants in the Philadelphia metro area, and specifically in Chester County.

After graduating from Gettysburg College with degrees in History and Business, Carlino was first hired at Virtus Realty Advisors in Conshohocken as a member of its commercial leasing team, where he represented a portfolio of more than 1.2 million square feet of commercial real estate in suburban Philadelphia. About five years ago, he made the switch to West Chester-based Pillar and recently became the fifth partner there.

“Our core business has been multi-family unit sales, land sales, and office, retail, and warehouse sales and leasing,” said Carlino. “We have been fortunate enough to represent some of the most prominent landlords and tenants in the area.”

The firm has additional expertise in land development and planning, valuation analysis, and strategic planning for its commercial clients.

Recent projects for Pillar Real Estate Advisors include brokering the sale of land in Kennett Square that was approved for 175 apartment units, as well as the cold storage facility at the old Hain Celestial plant in West Chester, which is now being converted into a self-storage facility. Carlino is currently involved in multi-family-property sales projects in Kennett Square, West Chester, and Phoenixville; industrial leasing projects at several sites, including Malvern; and the sale of the old Harley Davidson dealership in Chester Springs.

“We try and stay pretty close to where our knowledge base is, and Chester County is definitely our bread and butter,” said Carlino. “We occasionally will do some business in southern Montgomery County or western Delaware County, but probably 90 percent of our business is Chester County-based.”

Like most industries, commercial real estate felt the effects of the pandemic. By the second half of last year, however, things began to look up.

“Obviously, when things shut down from mid-March into June, we couldn’t show properties,” said Carlino. “But, by the end of the year, business really picked up, and we really didn’t see much of a downturn. We’ve been able to carry that momentum into this year.”

Does being a partner in the business change any of his day-to-day at the firm?

“My daily responsibilities don’t differ that much,” he said. “I have a little bit more say in the direction of the business behind the scenes, but I will continue to spend a lot of time on business development and continuing to foster relationships with both current clients and future clients.”

Pillar Real Estate Advisors attributes most of its success and growth to the team effort and collaboration within the office.

“Everyone says they are team-oriented, but we really work on things together,” said Carlino. “We talk about how we can get better, and we work on how we can collectively serve our clients in an effective way. When someone hires us, they get the whole team and all our experience at once, which I think sets us apart, as we aim to be the premier Chester County commercial real estate brokerage firm.”

Learn more about Pillar Real Estate Advisors.