Mauricio Umansky’s The Agency Celebrates Opening of Boca Raton Office at Private Faena Reception

Beverly Hills-based brokerage The Agency has picked Boca Raton as its first location in its highly anticipated expansion plan throughout South Florida.

The luxury brokerage celebrated the announcement last week at a private cocktail reception hosted in Faena’s Living Room, where they hit the ground running; contracts were signed and deals were inked on the hotel’s velvet, cheetah-print couches. The celebration followed The Real Deal’s South Florida Real Estate Showcase & Forum where Umansky revealed the finalized location.

The Agency is launching its office at 20 Southeast Third Street in mid-November, according to managing partners Chris Franciosa and Jared Ringel, who are leading the Agency’s expansion in South Florida along with Howard Elfman, the managing broker.

The brokerage was attracted to the “long-term stability” of Boca Raton and its potential for growth. The two-story, 6,700-square-foot office will house the Agency Development Group and the Agency Creates, its creative division.

The Agency plans to expand the business to Broward and Miami Dade, according to managing partners Franciosa and Ringel who joined the Agency from Douglas Elliman and have sold more than $100 million of real estate in their careers. The Agency anticipates about 20 agents joining the Boca office, but Ringel hinted at the possibility of a Miami location already in the pipeline as well.  

In addition to its home base in Beverly Hills, the firm has 25 offices in Brentwood, Calabasas, Danville, Malibu, Noe Valley, Venice, Orange County, Pacific Palisades, Palm Desert, Park City, Scottsdale, Sherman Oaks, Turks and Caicos, Los Cabos, Punta de Mita and elsewhere. 

It will compete with other high-end brokerages in South Florida like One Sotheby’s International Realty, the Keyes Company and Lang Realty.

Mike Pappas, CEO of the Keyes Co., stated that “Just as the L.A. market is very intense and competitive, so now is the South Florida market with all the major players, both local firms and firms outside of this market.”

Article by: Katya Demina

Developer Celebrates Plans to Revitalize Coconut Grove with Groundbreaking at Metronomic Place

Miami-based development company Metronomic Inc., led by Ricky Trinidad, broke ground last Thursday for the new, mixed-use office, retail and hotel project on Grand Avenue in Coconut Grove. The groundbreaking ceremony for Metronomic Place was attended by commissioner Xavier Suarez and is set to spearhead the long-awaited revival of this corridor.

The five-story building will have about 5,000 square-feet of Class A office space, 3,200 square-feet of ground floor retail space, and a 44-key boutique hotel. The lobby and hotel interior was developed by local firm One Design Build. Designer Hugo Mijares combined metal, concrete, wood and other raw elements to create a modern industrial design with Old American style. It will also feature an activated “green” rooftop with a pool and garden area that echo the natural aura Coconut Grove in known for. Metronomic Place has an estimated completion date of Winter 2019.

Ricky Trinidad, President of Metronomic, Inc., is a developer and resident himself in West Coconut Grove, and has deep roots to the community. He hopes the project will enhance the vitality of Coconut Grove’s commercial and entertainment core.

He also just closed on a 7,200 square-foot site at 3110 Commodore Plaza called Commodore Place. The boutique hotel will offer loft-style, short-term suites with attractive amenities, a rooftop pool and garden deck area, and a two-story duplexed retail venue on the first floor.

Renderings for Commodore Place.

Miguel Pinto of Apex Capital Realty brokered the deal and represented Metronomic Inc. Like Ricky, Miguel is focused on working on projects and deals that enhance communities and positively impact the commercial real estate industry.

As part of Metronomic’s larger plan to revitalize Grand Avenue, they also have over ten new construction projects in the works in Coconut Grove. This includes a large-scale comprehensive development of multiple properties of mixed-income, affordable housing, retail, office, park plazas, and sustainable living concepts.

Article by: Katya Demina

Una Residences Given Green Light

OKO Group’s latest development, the nautically-inspired Una Residences, has now been approved by Miami’s Urban Development Review Board. This key step brings the 47-story condo building, proposed for 175 SE 25th Road, a little closer to inception at the crossroads of Coconut Grove and Brickell.

The building will feature 135 waterfront condos starting at $942,000, an underground parking garage, and public baywalk that connects to an adjoining park. The review board granted a request to allow ingress for vehicle entries at the loading docks and service area, which will pave the way for the demolition of the current structure.

This process of condo termination and redevelopment has been fueled by CEO of OKO Group, Vladislav Doronin’s confidence in the site, which he began to assemble back in 2016 by buying out current residents at nearly double the expected market value. “There has been no new construction here for the last 10 years,” says Doronin. “We were lucky to manage to purchase this site. And for the near-future, no one else is going to build here. We won’t have any competitors in South Brickell.”

This developer strategy of parcel identification and repurposing can be expected to continue in the upcoming real estate cycle as waterfront property becomes more scarce in Miami. Sales for Una, which are being handled exclusively by Fortune International Realty, went live back in March. Cash buyers have been the cornerstone to Una’s pre-sale success, most coming from overseas, since the building has not yet secured any form of traditional financing.

The project is expected to be completed by 2021.

Article by: Katya Demina