Douglas Elliman’s Eklund-Gomes team is further expanding in Brooklyn, tapping a new team leader to drive sales in the borough.
The team tapped Jessica Peters, formerly on Elliman’s Peters-O’Brien team, to be executive manager of Brooklyn sales, the brokerage said. Peters is joining as the team has been focusing on new development in the borough.
Peters said she’s known Fredrik Eklund and John Gomes for years and “always flirted with the idea of working together.” The move was nearly a year in the making, and six other agents — Allison Dubuisson, Justin McMahon, Daniel Fried, Jennyrose Halupka, Monica Breese and Vanessa Rodriguez — are also joining the team. They will be based out of the office at 280 Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg.
The Brooklyn push comes as the borough is poised to get a new influx of residential inventory. In 2019 alone, the borough is expected to get hit with 1,917 condo units and a massive 14,127 rentals. In total, the borough is slated to add roughly 35,400 units by 2021.
Among its Brooklyn projects, Eklund-Gomes is leading sales for the 201 units Fortis Property Group’s massive River Park project. The development is a collection of five residences located along the waterfront at the intersection of Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights, and Dumbo. Polhemus Residences, Polhemus Townhouses and 5 River Park are currently on the market.
The Brooklyn expansion follows the team’s foray into Los Angeles, where Eklund-Gomes opened an office last year. The growth has brought the total agent count to 35, nearly tripling the team’s size in a year, Elliman said. The team claims to have over $1 billion in closed deals in Brooklyn to date.
Over the course of 12 years at Elliman, Peters has led sales for 71 new development projects and closed about $850 million in sales volume, according to the brokerage. In The Real Deal’s 2018 ranking of Brooklyn agent teams, the Peters-O’Brien team came in ninth with $105.1 million in sales volume.