Urban Compass hires former Corcoran exec to lead Miami expansion

Urban Compass is heading south this winter. Gene Martinez, formerly of the New York-based Corcoran Group, will lead the firm’s expansion into Miami, the technology-driven brokerage firm announced Wednesday.

Martinez is joining the company as its director of sales and business development for Miami and Washington, D.C., according to a news release.

Miami is critical to the firm’s national expansion, founder and CEO Robert Reffkin said.

“In founding Urban Compass, we set out to build a different kind of residential brokerage, integrating the best of the best across real estate, technology, and business to empower our agents and improve the real estate experience for our clients,” Reffkin said in the release.

“We will look to build our Miami presence with a disciplined approach to high-level recruiting and the development of superior technology and marketing solutions.”

Urban Compass was the first residential brokerage to offer a proprietary mobile app exclusively for its agents, allowing them to update listings and conduct searches. Martinez, who grew up in Miami, will work to establish Urban Compass’ Miami office and oversee the sales managers for the firm’s expansion. — Katherine Kallergis