The recovering housing market has sparked a series of expansions among three of the city’s leading boutique firms.
aptsandlofts, Heddings Property Group and Spire Group each announced plans for growth this week to meet the demands of new business.
The companies join the likes of Halstead, Prudential Douglas Elliman, Modern Spaces and Nest Seekers, which have all expanded their operations since the beginning of the year.
“New development in New York City is back in a major way, at times it feels like 2006 again,” said David Maundrell whose aptsandlofts was ranked as the second largest New Development Marketer in NYC by The Real Deal in 2011.
The10-year-old Brooklyn-based firm is opening a new street-level office in Cobble Hill, and plans to hire 40 additional agents.
Slated to open this summer, the 2,000 s/f space at 236 Court St. will be aptsandlofts.com’s second storefront office, in addition to the flagship at 482 Driggs Ave. in Williamsburg.
Maudrell said the expansion is in direct response to the firm’s steadily growing new development portfolio, which adds to the current database of rental, condominium, co-op, townhome and artist lofts/creative properties.
In addition to their existing portfolio, aptsandlofts.com is consulting on nearly 60 new developments, amounting to nearly 3,000 units, slated to launch in the coming years throughout New York City, including major projects on Fourth Avenue in Park Slope, on Bergen Street in Boerum Hill, Red Hook’s largest development to date and their first development in Manhattan.
Meanwhile, Heddings Property Group is opening of it’s sixth office, this time in Westport, Conn.
The residential rokerage is partnering with well-regarded local agent Marilyn Katz who will run the firm’s Westport operations.
“We are absolutely thrilled to bring the Heddings Property Group customer service platform to Westport and, in doing so, welcome Marilyn Katz to our thriving team,” said Douglas Heddings, founder and president of Heddings Property Group.
“With her work ethic, vast knowledge of the Connecticut market and indelible commitment to her community, Katz is the perfect addition to our growing family.”
Since launching his firm in Manhattan in June 2010, Heddings has expanded across the Greater New York City Region with new offices in the Hamptons, Westchester, Rockland and most recently, Connecticut, with the addition of a Greenwich location in January 2011 and now Westport.
Katz, a longtime Westport resident, joins Heddings Property Group from Prudential Connecticut Realty. She is state director of the Connecticut Association of Realtors and chairperson and grievance committee member for the Mid-Fairfield County Association of Realtors.
Spire Group, Inc. also announced the addition of its 100th agent since its launch one year ago.
“It gives us tremendous pride to announce that Spire has reached a major expansion milestone with the addition of our 100th agent,” said Bianka Yankov, co-founder of Spire.
“Our rapid growth in both size and brand power is great news for valued Spire agents, clients and partners, as the momentum has more than quadrupled our sales and rental activity.”
Spire officially launched in April 2011 with a new spin on the 100% commission model, offering ‘true 100%’ commission without deal-related fees imposed by the model’s earliest adopters.
