The Agency opens 2nd office in Pacific Palisades

Santiago Arana and Marco Rufo will lead luxury brokerage’s 11th LA location

The Agency’s Santiago Arana and Marco Rufo (Facebook via Arana and Rufo)
The Agency’s Santiago Arana and Marco Rufo (Facebook via Arana and Rufo)

The Agency is opening a new office in Pacific Palisades, led by managing partners Santiago Arana and Marco Rufo, The Real Deal has learned.

The location at 1017 N. Swarthmore Avenue is across the street from Rick Caruso’s Palisades Village shopping mall.

The satellite office is the luxury brokerage’s 11th location in Los Angeles, and its second in Pacific Palisades. It also has a space at 860 Via De La Paz. A brokerage spokesperson confirmed the new office, which was previously occupied by designer consignment shop Get Dressed. Details on the lease deal were not known. The property owner is listed as Vicki Lee Bowinkel.

In addition to Arana and Rufo, the brokerage will add agents to the 1,100-square-foot location over time, said a spokesperson. Around a dozen agents work out of the Via De La Paz office.

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Last October, the Beverly Hills-based brokerage hired Rainy Hake Austin, former head of operations for Compass’ West Coast division, as its new president. Co-founder Billy Rose stepped down from that position, shifting to vice chairman of its board of directors. Austin reports to Rose and CEO Mauricio Umansky, also a co-founder.

Then in April, The Agency sued Compass, claiming its rival illegally prevented Austin from recruiting agents.

While the L.A. luxury market — and housing market overall — has remained strong for months, brokerages have not been expanding offices. They also haven’t been closing locations with the same frequency as they did last spring.

In May, Corcoran franchise affiliate Corcoran Global Living opened a 5,000-square-foot office in Beverly Hills — a space previously occupied by a boutique owned by Umansky’s wife.