Philadelphia Eagles former tight end Brent Celek’s post-NFL career started with a restaurant, writes Jeff Blumenthal for the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Opening in 2013, it closed a few years later, amidst a bad lease agreement.
That experience taught him a few things.
“I’d rather be the landlord than the guy that’s renting places,” he said.
At age 40, Celek started investing in real estate, then decided to open his own brokerage firm, creating Brent Celek Real Estate and title company Pando Abstract, both in a building in Media Borough.
The Media building he bought has become a WeWork set up for local real estate firms, Celek said. Along with his businesses and their 13 agents, there is a property management firm, a construction management firm, five real estate lawyers, and an insurance firm.
He picked Media because it only cost him $100 per square foot for the building at a time when Media property values were going up.
“I’m a firm believer that when you find a good piece of real estate, you try to hold on to it, ideally forever,” Celek said.
Now he’s expanded into commercial real estate development, acquiring a shopping center in Chalfont, Bucks County.
Read more about Brent Celek’s post-NFL career in the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on DELCO Today in April 2025.
