Jaime Sturgis leaves Metro 1, launches Native Realty in Fort Lauderdale’s Flagler Village

Jaime Sturgis has left Metro 1 and launched his own commercial brokerage firm, Native Realty Co., based in Fort Lauderdale’s Flagler Village.

Sturgis told The Real Deal his firm will focus on leasing and investment sales in the urban core and emerging markets throughout South Florida.

Born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Sturgis was formerly sales director for Miami-based Metro 1 Commercial, and oversaw all sales and leasing in Broward County for the last few years. He left the company after six years, he said, because “I focused on Broward and Fort Lauderdale and they’re focused on Miami.”

At Metro 1, he said he closed $11 million in deals in the first quarter of this year, including brokering the $1.3 million sale of an acre parcel at 712 Northwest First Avenue in Fort Lauderdale’s Progresso neighborhood to Blue River Realty, and handling leases for Red Pearl Yoga, Bean to Brew Coffee Shop and Beer Co. at the Hive in Fort Lauderdale.

His new office is at 908 North Flagler Drive in Flagler Village, a neighborhood booming with new development. Miami-based Alta is building a 12-story multifamily housing development with 208 units at 421 Northeast 6th Avenue. Houston-based Morgan Group is building a 350-unit rental housing complex at 400 Northeast 3rd Avenue. And in November, Lennar Corp. got a $61.7 million loan from Wells Fargo Bank to finance construction of 386 apartments in Flagler Village.

Among other developments in the neighborhood is a planned 12-story, 99-unit residential project called Flagler 626. A group of Israeli developers listed the site for sale for $3.5 million after the Fort Lauderdale City Commission approved the development in September.