The Closing: Fredrik Eklund

Since moving to South Florida last year, Fredrik Eklund has started nearly every morning on the sand with his 70-pound Goldendoodle Cash, watching the sun rise. 

Eklund, famous for his time on “Million Dollar Listing New York” and co-founder of the top-ranked Eklund-Gomes team at Douglas Elliman, calls the ritual his “daily rebirth.” 

“When I get to see that, it doesn’t matter what happens during the day because I’ve already won the day,” he said.  

Plenty of winning usually ensues. Eklund-Gomes, which he started with co-founder John Gomes, closed sales totaling nearly $3.8 billion in 2023 with more than 100 agents and offices in New York, Los Angeles, Texas and Miami, according to the team.

With Elliman Florida CEO Jay Parker, Eklund has secured the exclusive sales and marketing for about 1,500 new development condos in South Florida. 

They are capitalizing on the surge in new projects, many led by New York developers offering 5 or 6 percent commissions, designed by architects from around the world. Eklund-Gomes is leading sales for Witkoff and Monroe Capital’s Shore Club, the Ritz-Carlton Residences South Beach and Witkoff and Ari Pearl’s Shell Bay project, among others. 

“It’s the same people, but an upgraded version of all of us, me included,” he said, referring to the New York developers, their design teams and brokers.

At the Shore Club, for example, the sales team has secured a blended average of $5,500 per square foot, Eklund said. He’s in contract to purchase a unit at the project. 

The Real Deal sat down with Eklund in the lobby at Eighty Seven Park in Miami Beach, where he and his family have been renting a unit since they moved from L.A. 

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Born: April 26, 1977
Hometown: Stockholm, Sweden
Lives: Miami Beach, Florida
Family: Married to husband Derek Kaplan, twins Mila and Freddy

“One time we were offered, I think it was $18 million, $16 million in the back of a car. We won’t say from who.”

What were you like as a kid?

A social butterfly. I didn’t pay attention in school until I was like 12, 13. Then I got really competitive and I went for the best grades, the awards at school, straight As, scholarships. I had a really good childhood in the suburbs of Stockholm. Sometimes I didn’t come home for dinner. We were allowed to roam around. It was different. I felt very free. I felt very safe. My parents traveled a lot, not anything fancy. We did camping in Germany, Italy, and drove our Saab throughout Europe. Very early on, I was drawn to the world. 

What was your first job?

In school, everyone has to work two weeks at a real job. You don’t get paid. I was chopping onions in the basement of a restaurant, which I am really good at. It’s like a hidden talent. I can chop an onion (gestures) without cutting myself. 

How old were you?

12 to 13. 

What are you like as a father?

I’m the big kid. [My husband] is the strict one. I didn’t really feel successful until I had [kids]. Everyone always said, “Wow, your career, this and that and conquering New York real estate,” but something was always missing. 

I am super involved, super present. I say that because my dad was working a lot. And I work a lot. So that’s an inner conflict I have with myself all day long. I want them to grow up like I grew up, getting a work ethic, and at the same time being there when they need me. 

We’re doing a really good job. I can say that with certainty now that it’s been six years. In the beginning, with twins, we called it twinsanity. We’re discussing a third. We’ll see. 

What is your biggest hope for your children?

To feel loved, to have a base of security and a sense of hope. I don’t want them to feel like they’re in some sort of box geographically or in society. 

You’ve talked about how Miami is a better fit for you than L.A. How so?

L.A. has a lot of good things. For me, being in the car a lot, [there was] a little bit of isolating energy. The hopes of new development there didn’t pan out. I came there to put my mark on the city and maybe that’s my big ego. But there just aren’t enough new buildings. It’s always going to be a swimming pool and backyard city. It’s just how it is.

It took me five years to accept that. I was 45 when I realized that and moved away, and I go there all the time for business. I don’t want to look like I’m hating L.A. I felt like, wow, I have so much more in me still. I want to work more. I’m still a hustler.

Other brokerages have tried to poach you. Why stay with Elliman?

One time we were offered, I think it was $18 million, $16 million in the back of a car. We won’t say from who. John was like, “Let’s do it.” And I was like, “Definitely not.” 

Elliman lets us [be] a company within a company. We run a team so big that it’s almost like a division. We have more new development projects than any other team and more than most small companies out there. If we want to do something, they let us, and they believe in us. And we built out some really amazing infrastructure with them. Is there any other company in the world that could allow us to do that? I’m sure, but it’s just now it’s like family.

What is the most important piece of advice you have gotten from Howard Lorber?

He said that there’s something about me that can stir the pot a little bit. This was a while back when I was more … sharp in my angles. He said, “I want you to think about that.” And I really did. I had a tendency to get attention and rub people [the wrong way]. 

How do you look back on your time on the show “Million Dollar Listing”? 

When our show came out, it was kind of groundbreaking in the sense that [reality TV] wasn’t so saturated. I’m really grateful to have been part of that era. 

Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5: One day I’m going to sit down with my kids and watch it all. 

How have you and John maintained your friendship and business partnership for so long?

I think of it as a marriage. We talk about it a lot to try to inspire young people to build a team and find a business partner. It’s hard to find a business partner that you’re 50-50 with, and to be best friends and travel together. Having kids — it was just a coincidence — he has twins the same month as I have twins, different surrogates, different states. 

But we do fight a lot. There’s this push-and-pull duality. It’s been healthy to work together so closely, geographically, and also very healthy to work in different states. That’s the luckiest thing. He’s allowed me to move to L.A., to move to Miami, while he’s in New York. At the same time, I’m going back and forth and he’s coming here. And we’re doing it all together. 

That’s pretty cool.

It’s really cool. And then Julia [Spillman-Gover] comes in. We laugh and say she’s the line between the E and the G [in the logo]. She keeps us organized. And cracks the whip.

You and your team were involved in the recent $115 million sale at Central Park Tower. Has demand for the ultra-high-end segment of the market returned in New York?

It’s returning everywhere. Big money [buyers] are realizing that prices might not go up a lot this year, but the discount is going to shrink. These rate cuts are going to happen. That was a discounted deal, without being exact about what the discount was. There’s not a lot of trophy properties left in New York. 

Florida’s governor has backed a number of anti-LGBTQ policies. Was that a concern when you decided to move to South Florida?

I wasn’t concerned. But it was something that we talked about, Derek and I. I have never, ever, once felt it. Granted, the kids are in private school. I am LGBTQ, but … going back to the Howard comments, I live quite proudly. I am who I am, and I don’t ask for permission. I try not to live in a negative space or a space of fear.

Where do you see yourself living in 10 years?

I bought at 64 University Place, the building we sold out in New York. I have [Roxbury], Connecticut, which we just renovated. I bought at the Shore Club. We have the house in L.A.

I’m really still very serious about Tuscany [for retirement]. I look every single night. That’s not an exaggeration. 

What do you consider your biggest weakness?

Work-wise, probably that I don’t accept when I’m wrong. Personally, I need to be more quiet. 

How do you handle rejection or disappointment?

It’s hard, still.

I was working on a new format with Netflix. We were filming, and it was never picked up. I felt really disappointed. But I came to terms with [the idea that] maybe it’s not the best place for me to be locked into the reality TV real estate corner right now. Now there’s another format that is being discussed. Let’s just leave it at that. 

I’m trying to get better with disappointment. I realize that because I am quite spiritual — I wouldn’t say religious, but I go to church every Sunday — that sometimes the door closes because you’re being sort of saved from something. And there’s another door opening. 

“Still, I am a father. They take priority over everything in my life. I would be lying if I say it’s not something I worry about. I have to figure that one out.”

What keeps you up at night?

Nothing. I love to sleep. I sleep at least eight hours. I’ve never understood people who brag about not sleeping. I make it a sport. I’m lucky because I’m married to someone who’s obsessed with bedding and sheets and room temperatures and pillows, and he constantly tries to invest in new things to make sleep even better. If I’m not in bed, in my sheets, at 9 p.m. it’s not a good night’s sleep. 

What is your biggest extravagance?

Travel. I’m completely reckless. I love it. It does relate to my work because I do get very inspired. To study the best hotels, restaurants. I went to Paris for Fashion Week. People asked, “How can you go to Paris for three days?” I felt so energized. No jet lag. Just being sober helps.

How long have you been sober?

It’ll be four years this fall. 

How did it affect you?

It was really good for me, and it made me a lot more successful, much better at my job. I’m not tired anymore. I don’t have any anxiety. My body feels very clean and very light, paired with a lot of sleep with good sunrises. 

What is your biggest vice?

Mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Every night?

I would say like two, three times a week. And I’m working really hard to get back my eight pack. It’s not helping.

You worked briefly in adult films, a focal point in a New York Times profile of you about a decade ago. What did you learn from that experience?

I don’t regret anything. I’m not that kind of person. In some strange way, because of the New York Times [story], and because it was a big talking point for a lot of people and they brought it up on the show, I don’t think it was bad for my career. I don’t know if it was good. It was part of the trajectory, I guess. 

Still, I am a father. They take priority over everything in my life. I would be lying if I say it’s not something I worry about. It’s part of the equation. I have to figure that one out.

Some projects don’t get built or completed — like the Seaport Residences (formerly known as One Seaport) development in New York. How do you decide which developers to work with, especially with your new focus on Miami?

I can’t ultimately control everything, I can do my research, [look at a developer’s] track record. I can even try to help and control part of the financing because if I sell over 50 percent, and I have the right reports and the comps for the lenders, sometimes we even help with that. 

But I am not a developer. So I just have to trust my gut feeling and my intuition, which is usually right. John always tells me I get obsessed with some buildings. Like I can’t stop obsessing about a new project. That usually means it’s going to be successful and get built. But in the case of One Seaport, it didn’t.