One Sotheby’s International Realty acquired George Perez’s Turnberry International Realty, president Daniel de la Vega told The Real Deal.
The deal adds about 100 agents, an Aventura office and a kiosk at Aventura Mall to One Sotheby’s, marking another sign of the firm’s continued growth in Miami-Dade. De la Vega plans to buy two more firms by the end of the summer.
He declined to comment on the terms of the deal, citing a confidentiality agreement.
Don Soffer, who developed Aventura, sold Turnberry International Realty to his son-in-law, George Perez, in 1998. Perez and managing broker Seth Kaufman will stay on with One Sotheby’s, with Kaufman also overseeing about 175 agents in Aventura, Bay Harbor Islands and Sunny Isles Beach, he said. Perez is now a One Sotheby’s business development consultant.
The Aventura firm fielded offers over the years, but wanted to remain a boutique brokerage. “We’ve been approached for years by several companies, the biggest names in real estate, but we never wanted to move in that direction,” Kaufman said. “But the times are changing. We knew how important it was for our agents to have that global reach like Sotheby’s.”
Kaufman said the overall residential market slowdown did not have an impact on the decision to sell to One Sotheby’s. It marks the 12th office for One Sotheby’s, which now has 675 agents.
South Florida’s luxury brokerages have been expanding over the past couple of years. One Sotheby’s acquired Bay Harbor Islands-based Crescendo Real Estate last year, absorbing its 15-agent office and about $250 million of inventory, and Diane Lieberman’s South Beach International Realty in 2015. Brown Harris Stevens picked up Avatar Real Estate Services and Zilbert International Realty, and Douglas Elliman acquired Tauriello & Co. Real Estate and its 60 agents in November.
Turnberry International Realty is bringing with it about 240 listings totaling $100 million. Last year, the firm closed about $500 million in sales, Kaufman said.
“We’re not buying just to buy, we’re buying companies that fit our culture and our mantra. If they don’t, they’re not for us,” de la Vega said.