Million dollar listing star Fredrik Eklund leaves California for Florida
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New office towers in downtown West Palm Beach, or already completed ones, such as 360 Rosemary, have lured about 100 firms since 2019 to Palm Beach County.
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Former reality-TV star Fredrik Eklund from the “Million Dollar Listing” series has burgeoning West Palm Beach on his “vision board” for projects he’d like to represent and already has an office of his powerhouse Eklund Gomes team in Jupiter.
Eklund, whose life was chronicled by the Emmy-nominated Bravo TV franchise for 11 years first in New York and then Los Angeles, moved to Miami in the summer of 2023 after new construction in Golden State metro areas began to stagnate, he said.
Known for his signature high-kick and exuberant cry of “weeeeee,” the 6-foot, 5-inch native of Sweden, put his Beverly Hills home on the market in December.
“What I particularly do is new development and new buildings, and there is a lot of that here in South Florida,” said Eklund, who co-founded Douglas Elliman’s Eklund Gomes Team with John Gomes, which opened a Miami office about five years ago. “In LA, there just wasn’t a lot of new construction.”
The Eklund Gomes Jupiter office at the Jupiter Yacht Club launched shortly before the pandemic. A planned splashy entrance to the Palm Beach County real estate market was overshadowed by Covid-19, but marketing was renewed last year with Eklund throwing out the first pitch at a spring training game between the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium.
Since then, two additional reality TV Realtors have staked claims in Palm Beach County.
Ryan Serhant, who co-starred with Eklund in the New York series, opened an office of his firm Serhant. in Delray Beach last year. Mauricio Umansky, known for his marriage to Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards, opened an office of his firm, The Agency, in Palm Beach. Umansky also has his own reality TV show on Netflix called “Buying Beverly Hills.”
“Because West Palm Beach and Palm Beach has so much happening now in the condominium space, that’s on my vision board,” Eklund said. “Those buyers are really from the markets that we operate in.”
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Population estimates released this month by the Census Bureau point to why South Florida may be attracting high-profile celebrity Realtors following a pandemic-triggered exodus that saw people leave urban and higher-tax areas with a new freedom to work from anywhere.
The tri-county area of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade saw the 10th highest population gain of metro areas nationwide between April 2020 and July 2023, adding about 44,000 people.
That overall gain included a loss of about 8,800 residents in Miami-Dade County while Palm Beach County grew by 39,520. Statewide, Florida’s population increased by more than 1 million people between 2020 and 2023.
During the same time period, California lost an estimated 538,000 residents with some counties gaining residents, such as Riverside County’s 69,500-person increase, and others losing big. Those included Los Angeles County, which was down 329,468 residents. Orange County lost nearly 50,000 people, and San Francisco saw 61,530 people leave.
New York also saw an overall exodus of about 533,500 people statewide. The counties with the biggest losses were Kings, Queens, and New York.
“I think Miami is always going to be a hot market because when people think of South Florida from outside the country, they think of Miami, but Palm Beach County has opportunities to grow, and that’s really what sets us apart,” said Tracy Ward, a broker associate in the Jupiter office of Eklund Gomes.
Eklund Gomes co-founder John Gomes said new transplants to Palm Beach County have a different way of living than the “old guard.” They may want more space for families, and turnkey residences with modern aesthetics and conveniences.
Gomes said he is working with a family living in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood that wants to move to Delray Beach.
“They want to be in a very specific area and have an idea of the schools and they love South Florida,” Gomes said.
Ward said she watched Million Dollar Listing before joining the Eklund Gomes team, and subscribed to its newsletter. After corresponding for a little while, she told Eklund that he was missing opportunities in Palm Beach County.
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“Right there and then we connected,” said Ward, adding that Eklund has proven himself in real estate regardless of his stint in reality television. “He is a very strong negotiator, as is everybody on this team. It’s not just ‘Hey, look at me, I’m fabulous.’ It’s a tough business, it’s very cutthroat.”
Eklund announced in 2022 he was leaving Million Dollar Listing after 11 years on the program in New York and Los Angeles.
Last year, the Eklund Gomes Team had $3.77 billion in total transactions from agents in New York, California, Texas and Florida.
Eklund said he wants to work on iconic projects that make a statement in the community.
In Miami, he is part of a team leading sales at the nautically-themed Shore Club, an Auberge-branded waterfront tower with 49 units. The Real Deal reported earlier this month a Shore Club penthouse is under contract for $120 million. Eklund Gomes is also leading sales at the Ritz-Carlton Residences in South Beach.
Kimberly Miller is a veteran journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate and how growth affects South Florida’s environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to [email protected]. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today.
