2026 Women in Commercial Real Estate: Maria Cardenas, Envicon Group

What was the most rewarding project or deal you’ve worked on in the past 12 months, and why?

Riverside Park South Phase 6 on Manhattan’s Upper West Side is the project I’m proudest of this year. As project manager, the outcome was mine to deliver. Urban remediation in a dense, closely watched corridor leaves no room for error: regulatory timelines that will not flex, a community watching every move, and a team of strong personalities in a field where women still rarely run operations. I kept the project moving, the team aligned, and the client confident, and I delivered under all of it.

What leadership lesson has made the greatest impact on your career?

The lesson that shaped my career most is how to carry pressure without letting it run the room. I have led projects where competing deadlines, hard team dynamics, and regulatory uncertainty all landed at once, across financial services, hospitality, and now engineering. Early on I thought the answer was to push harder and absorb more. Getting it wrong first taught me to lead with composure instead. When a leader stays steady, the team keeps working; when they get reactive, everything fragments. That is the standard I hold my teams to now.

What trend or change in commercial real estate do you believe will have the biggest impact over the next five years?

Over the next five years, environmental risk will drive how buyers value, finance, and underwrite commercial real estate. Climate exposure, legacy contamination, PFAS liability, and tightening rules in New York and New Jersey are already reshaping site selection and deal structure. Owners who treat environmental assessment as a closing formality are carrying risk they have not priced. Lenders and insurers now weigh it from the first conversation, so buyers who engage early move faster and pay less. Everyone else keeps finding these problems after closing, when they cost the most to fix.

What advice would you give to the next generation of women entering commercial real estate?

My advice is to walk in more prepared than anyone else. Commercial real estate rewards people who know the project, the numbers, and the risk cold, and that knowledge is what earns your place on the deal. Be intentional about the rooms you enter and the deals you touch early, because the range you see young is what teaches judgment. Find mentors who push you, not just reassure you. Do not trade your instincts for a style the industry finds more familiar. Bring your rigor, your instincts, and your steadiness under pressure. The industry is changing because strong and proud women are changing it