Manhattan-based brokerage Nest Seekers kicked off the opening of the firm’s first California office in Beverly Hills Wednesday night.
The west coast office, a partnership between Eddie Shapiro’s Nest Seekers and former Hilton & Hyland broker and “Beverly Hills Housewives” star Marisa Zanuck, is dubbed Nest Seekers Zanuck. The locale’s creation, Zanuck said, came from her desire to make a change after 15 years at real estate brokerage Hilton & Hyland, and Nest Seekers broker Ryan Serhant’s interest in expanding the Manhattan-based firm to the west coast.
“I wanted a change, and Eddie wanted to branch out to Beverly Hills,” Zanuck said. “I thought the timing was right. The real estate market had picked up again, everything was prime.”
The new office is located at 271 Canon Drive, a thoroughfare popularly known as “Real Estate Row.” Setting Up Shop On The Street was imperative for the firm, Zanuck said, but snagging such a prime spot took a great deal of planning and negotiating.
“Canon is the street for a real estate firm, but space is very competitive and there isn’t a lot of availability,” Zanuck said. “What we got, it was small, but it was important to me to at least be on Real Estate Row.” The 2,000-square-foot space is located across the street from Zanuck’s ex-firm Hilton & Hyland.
The office currently has 20 agents on board and aims to hire as many as 50, Zanuck said. The space spans two stories, boasts a storefront outfitted with a rotating video wall showcasing listings – a strategy that draws on retail and fashion marketing techniques.
“No L.A. firms take advantage of their storefront space, so I spent a lot of money on getting TVs in the window,” Zanuck said. “They will show properties in Beverly Hills that we have, as well as Ryan’s Million Dollar Listing stuff, pertinent places in Beverly Hills and on Rodeo Drive. With this, we’re branding ourselves as being very different from any other firm.”
The boutique brokerage will be geared towards high-end properties, and aims to soon expand to a second location in Malibu, Zanuck said. A second Beverly Hills locale is also in consideration. The firm could expand elsewhere in California, depending on demand.