Mega Residential Real Estate Firm Plots Dallas Expansion
Real estate in North Texas is hot. Because of this, everyone wants a part of the action, including Bravo Television’s reality star Fredrik Eklund. Today Douglas Elliman Real Estate, one of the largest independent residential real estate agents in the United States, announced that they would be opening a business in Highland Park. Eklund and his team, consisting of Julia Spillman and John Gomes, will direct the show.
For years, Million Dollar Listing has highlighted Eklund’s out-of-the-box antics when he committed murder while selling luxury homes in New York and later in Los Angeles. Indeed its The Eklund | Gome’s team is no. 1 in the country in condominium sales.
The company will reach the Dallas market with over $ 1.1 billion in new local projects in the pipeline. It will serve resale, condominium sales, rentals, business relocations, and home builders sales in and around the Dallas area.
“Texas is the most exciting market in the country right now. Buyers from California, New York and Florida are moving here,” said Eklund. “We look forward to writing real estate history with our new colleagues.”
Jacob Sudhoff, CEO of Douglas Elliman, Texas
Jacob Sudhoff, CEO of Douglas Elliman, Texas, says the expansion into north Texas is providing the company with an amazing opportunity not only to raise the bar, but to do something else as well. “Our technological advances, combined with our national presence and international reach, will provide Dallas with an unparalleled platform like no other,” he said.
As soon as we heard the news, D CEO phoned Sudhoff to talk more about the expansion – and the possibility of Bravo hosting another Dallas show.
D CEO: They all announced more than 1.1 billion new Dallas projects. Can you share any of them with us?
SUDHOFF: So we are not in a position to reveal these yet, but they will come, literally, in the next few weeks. We’ll be announcing some new projects in Dallas over the next few weeks, and there will be more over the next six to eight weeks. Douglas Elliman is the No. 1 condo seller in the country and we bring our expertise to Texas. We are already no. 1 in Houston and now opened in Austin and Dallas. Our goal is to conquer this market. The thing about us is that we’re the only national company that has an exclusive new development division in Texas. And that’s something that really sets us apart from everyone else.
D CEO: Since you can’t share the projects yet, what about the areas you are looking at?
SUDHOFF: Our first markets are the luxury markets – from Frisco all the way down to the Park Cities to Turtle Creek. They call it; it is everywhere.
D CEO: How long have you been watching Dallas?
SUDHOFF: I’ve seen it for quite a while. We opened in Houston in late 2019 and we always knew we wanted to come to Dallas, but we were rushed. We didn’t plan to open Austin and Dallas at the same time. But because there is such a demand and migration to Texas right now that we can hit the market and you know all of the business relocations as well as all of the buyers coming from our feeder markets, especially in places like LA and New York, we had to open these offices . That sped up our timeframe and really got us to open both offices at the same time. As we know, COVID made Texas more popular. We are just seeing such a growing migration and we don’t see it stop anytime soon.
D CEO: Why was it important to set up an office here?
SUDHOFF: Many of these developers have ties to New York, LA, or Miami, now they’re coming to Texas. For us, we follow our developers. And we also follow the brands. For some of the new branded housing projects in Texas, we are often already selling these branded homes in other markets in the country. Because of this, the brands know that we understand how to articulate the brand. Douglas Elliman is the # 1 condo sales team in the country – no one has a better experience than this. Nationally, Fredrik and his team are the No. 1 team in the country. You have completed over 75 new development projects. We follow our customers, the developers, the buyers, the brands, and that’s why Dallas was so important. Dallas is a market everyone wants to break into. It’s just an exciting time for us to be here on the first floor and really help bring many of these ideas and projects to life.
D CEO: How do you think Fredrik and his team will fit in with Dallasites?
SUDHOFF: I think they fit just right. I love the idea of being able to bring this type of headlight to Dallas. Dallas has always been left behind LA, Chicago, New York, Miami, and I feel like Dallas is coming to the tipping point where people like Fredrik can come in and put it in the spotlight like never before from the real estate agent’s point of view. We don’t have a celebrity agent in Texas, and we don’t have one in Dallas, so this will be the first of its kind really capable of that level of following. To see Dallas on par with New York, Miami, LA will be amazing.
D CEO: Do you think there’s an opportunity to see a million dollar listing Dallas?
SUDHOFF: I think the best way to say is that Fredrik is always on all these different trips. And I think the cameras usually follow Fredrik wherever he goes. It’s always a possibility.
Michael Reddell, Senior Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Dallas, will reside in the new Dallas office in Highland Park at 4514 Travis Street. Agents are currently being hired in Dallas.