In the latest addition to residential brokerages backing the death of the traditional office, Douglas Elliman’s top-producing team is rolling out a flexible workplace in the West Village.
The Eklund-Gomes Team is taking over 1,100 square feet at 41 Bank Street, a former home to short-term locations for Tiffany & Co. and Marc Jacobs shopping experiences. Unlike its current 10,000-square-foot office at 936 Broadway, the new office will be a hub for agents to hot desk.
Fredrik Eklund and John Gomes outside of 41 Bank Street (Courtesy of Eklund-Gomes)
The brokers were the top-producing broker team in all of Manhattan last year, closing $492 million across 140 deals in the borough, according to a TRD ranking of the city’s top residential brokers.
The team is led by Fredrik Eklund — known for his role on Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing” — and John Gomes. The team has 90 agents across 12 markets in four states — with plans to expand into Las Vegas.
Eklund and Gomes said they were not necessarily in the market for a new office, but when one of their agents caught wind of Tiffany’s ending its lease, they decided to claim the iconic property for themselves.
“It came to us very organically,” Eklund said.
The team signed a five-year lease,with possibility for extension. The space, designed as a high-end showroom by Paris Forino, is expected to be completed in the fall.
“We don’t want to have listings in the windows,” Eklund said.
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The new office does not mean a massive push for recruitment, but Gomes said the brokers are “ever expanding our team.” Still, having a hub in the West Village — where the brokers say they’ve been doing a plethora of deals — may attract agents doing business in the area.
As the city’s office markets grapples with changing attitudes around post-pandemic work arrangements, newer brokerages have shifted towards hybrid office models, instead of assigned desks to host agents daily.
“The truth is that people are up and about and all around,” Gomes said. “I always say to the agent, when we see agents in the office, ‘What are you doing here, this is not where you make the money.’”