Blu Realty gets new division

Blu Realty Founders
Blu Realty Founders

Gad Realty isn’t the only firm seeking to capitalize on Manhattan’s many international buyers. Boutique residential brokerage Blu Realty Group this month will launch a new international division, managing partner Vince Rocco told The Real Deal. The division, which will focus on working with clients from overseas, is staffed by four current Blu brokers — Derek Nowicki, Lizabeth Sant’Angelo, Shane Shimon and Elena Metzler. Rocco will manage the division out of the firm’s Midtown office at 1674 Broadway, and said he plans to add more Blu brokers to the team.

Blu already has one overseas assignment, as the exclusive U.S. marketer of a 248-unit combination hotel and condo tower in London, Rocco said. He was not able to disclose all the details by press time, but said the new tower is being built by the London-based developer, Manhattan Loft Corporation, and that sales will launch this year.

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While the new division will focus on foreign buyers who want to purchase New York properties, the firm’s involvement with the London project created the perfect opportunity to launch an international branch of the firm, Rocco said. The end goal is for Blu, which has 63 total agents, to develop more of an international presence, both through word of mouth and advertising for overseas developments.

Despite starting out in Great Britain, Rocco said the new division will likely focus on buyers from fast-growing countries like Russia and Brazil. He added that Blu brokers in the new division will reach out to contacts abroad, and take trips outside the U.S. to find clients. “We are going to go proactively to the marketplaces where we hope to find buyers,” Rocco said.