Brokerages in South Florida are increasing their agent numbers as part of ongoing expansion efforts. Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate has acquired Castelli Real Estate Services, an 80-agent firm based in Broward County. With this acquisition, Better Homes & Gardens now has 250 agents in the area and plans to grow its Broward offices to over 500 agents. The company is led by CEO Gene Whiddon III. This move comes as Better Homes & Gardens is set to be acquired by Compass through a $1.6 billion deal involving Anywhere Real Estate.
One Sotheby’s International Realty has promoted Jennifer Leong to manager of development sales in Broward. Leong, who joined the brokerage in 2021 and leads the Opulent Group, will focus on expanding One Sotheby’s new development business in the county.
Brown Harris Stevens has added several agents to its South Miami and Miami Beach offices. New hires in South Miami include Adriana Cifuentes, Christina Cagol, Jazmine Yancey, Juanita Gallego, Kia Kesser, and Yina Uriza. Christine Patruna and Ruslan Moncada have joined the Miami Beach office.
Architecture firm RSP announced that Nicolas Pinzon has joined its Miami office as an associate principal. Pinzon specializes in mixed-use projects and large-scale developments and previously spent 27 years at L35 Architects as a senior partner.
In Palm Beach, Grant Friedman has been named general manager of Palm House hotel. Friedman was previously a consultant with GIF Hospitality and served as vice president and general manager for Acqualina Resort and Residences from 2020 to 2023.
L+R Hotels, owned by Ian and Richard Livingstone, purchased Palm House hotel for $39.6 million in 2019.
