Chariff Realty opens new homey, high-tech offices

Less than a year after buying a home on Biscayne Boulevard and sinking more than $1 million into renovations, Chariff Realty Group has moved into its swanky new offices.

The pink paint has been replaced with coats of gray, all new windows have been installed and the space is now equipped with a high-tech audio-visual system, amid modern interiors decorated with accents of black and white.

The 3,900-square-foot home was completely gutted and rebuilt from the ground up with the help of a design firm, Lyle Chariff, president of Chariff Realty Group told The Real Deal. “We rebuilt it like it was an old classic car that we just used the chassis,” he said.

Chariff Realty paid $1 million in June for the home at 5801 Biscayne Boulevard in Miami, which sits on a 10,900-square-foot lot. The firm moved into its new headquarters two weeks ago, while still retaining its offices in Miami’s Design District.

Lyle Chariff in his golf cart

“I wanted to create a lifestyle move,” said Chariff, who lives three blocks away in Morningside. “I wanted to have an office I could drive a golf cart to and never have to drive in traffic.”

The real estate brokerage firm hired IG Workshop to handle interior design, contractor By His Grace Construction to rebuild it and HEDSouth to outfit it with an office audio and entertainment system and automation.

Now, a large agent work room has seating for at least 12 people along Technion white wooden tables. Private offices on the second floor for Chariff and his business partner and brother-in-law Mauricio Zapata are equipped with executive desks backed by wooden book shelves, under large light fixtures inspired by Serge Mouille and Lindsey Adelman.

“We wanted to go with an office type of furniture, but we didn’t want it to look like office furniture,” Chariff said.

Lyle Chariff in the offices’ kitchen

A reception area is topped with Carrera marble, with cabinet space for plates and cups for parties, near a kitchen wall equipped with a hidden refrigerator and dishwasher.

IG Workshop said it decorated the space in a neutral palette of natural colors, with a clean, modern design and transitional furniture, still retaining architectural elements like wood.

Among other features, each of Chariff and Zapata have private bathrooms, complete with showers. Still to come are art and photography, which have yet to be approved by the designers, Chariff said.

Overall, the offices are completely soundproof, despite the property’s location on busy Biscayne Boulevard. Chariff said all the windows are thick, impact-resistant soundproof glass, all the block exterior walls were injected with foam insulation, and the underside of the roof was also sprayed with the insulation.

“The whole building is sealed like an igloo,” he said.

Security cameras offer a look from every angle inside and out, and can be viewed from huge TV screens inside. Chariff can control everything, from the lighting to the air conditioning to the window treatments — plus opening and locking exterior doors — all from his iPhone.

“I wanted the whole building to be an app,” Chariff said. “This is about me not having to be anchored to one location. It’s a virtual, controllable office.”