One Sotheby’s moves into Florida’s Treasure and Space coasts

One Sotheby’s International Realty acquired Treasure Coast Sotheby’s, giving the Miami-based brokerage a foothold in the Vero Beach and Melbourne markets, The Real Deal has learned.

The acquisition adds 100 agents and two offices to One Sotheby’s, bringing the luxury brokerage’s total to more than 900 agents and 18 offices in South Florida and up the state’s east coast. It’s the sixth firm that One Sotheby’s has purchased over the past two years.

Michael Thorpe and Kimberly Thorpe founded Treasure Coast Sotheby’s International Realty in 2010 and the couple will remain with One Sotheby’s, said Daniel de la Vega, president of One Sotheby’s. The couple ranks in the top 1 percent of sales in Indian River County. The Treasure and Space Coast brokerage has closed on more than $1.5 billion in sales since 2015, according to a spokesperson for One Sotheby’s.

Larger brokerages like One Sotheby’s and the Keyes Company have been acquiring smaller firms in South Florida amid rising costs and commission splits.

De la Vega said the brokerage business is a “hyper competitive environment” and that the Thorpes wanted to return to focusing solely on selling real estate while One Sotheby’s implements its tools and practices, including its customer relationship management (CRM) system and next year, its new website and intranet.

One Sotheby’s is taking over the Sotheby’s affiliate office leases at 1401 Highway A1A in Vero Beach and 301 Ocean Avenue in Melbourne Beach, de la Vega said. Kelly Martin will be managing broker of the merged offices.

The acquisition gives One Sotheby’s access to markets that include Indian River Shores, Cocoa Beach and Merritt Island.

De la Vega said Vero Beach “is still a tremendous value in my eyes” where an oceanfront property can sell for as little as $3 million.

“We want to help drive up prices and demand in Vero Beach,” he added.

One Sotheby’s was attracted to Melbourne, which is part of Florida’s Space Coast, in part because of the large millennial population and what’s going on with SpaceX in the nearby Cape Canaveral, de la Vega said.

The Miami-based firm’s previously expanded farther into Palm Beach County last year when it acquired fellow Sotheby’s affiliate Nestler Poletto Sotheby’s International Realty, a nearly 80-agent firm with offices in Boca Raton and Delray Beach, in October 2018. A year earlier, One Sotheby’s closed on the acquisition of Coastal Sotheby’s International Realty in Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter and Stuart.