Peter J. Cocoziello is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Advance Realty Investors, a privately held real estate development, investment, and management firm he founded in 1979. With a vision to deliver transformative real estate solutions, Peter began by acquiring a vacant parcel in West Orange, New Jersey, where he developed his first 14,000-square-foot office building. From these entrepreneurial roots, he expanded into residential development—building single-family homes and townhouses—before scaling into large commercial, industrial, and build-to-suit office projects.
Under Peter’s leadership, Advance Realty Investors has evolved into one of the Northeast’s most active and respected real estate firms. The company’s portfolio spans more than 20 million square feet of commercial, residential, mixed-use, and industrial properties in development or acquired over four decades.
A recognized leader in both business and civic spheres, Peter has held several high-profile leadership roles, including President of the N.J. Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), President of the New Jersey Chapter of NAIOP (Commercial Real Estate Development Association), and Chairman of New Jersey Network (PBS) and trustee of the Foundation for Morristown Medical Center. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Visitors at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business and Institute for Real Estate Studies.
Peter is also the Founder of the Advance Realty Real Estate Lecture Series and the Founder and Chairman of the Cocoziello Institute of Real Estate Innovation and a previous Founding Chair of the Institute for Real Estate Studies (IRES) at Penn State.
His contributions have earned him numerous accolades, including:
