After 10 years at Marcus & Millichap and two years at Franklin Street Real Estate Services, Deme Mekras and Elliot Shainberg decided in March to start their own commercial real estate firm, Miami-based MSP Group.
Together, they’ve closed more than $500 million in deals in South Florida.
“Our focus is what it has always been: the private sector of the multifamily business,” Mekras told The Real Deal.The pair has experience executing transactions for private investors, local and regional banks, large institutions, national special servicers, operators backed by hedge funds, and national agencies, according to a press release.
Mekras was previously regional managing partner at Franklin Street and a founding member of the Marcus & Millichap Miami office. Shainberg was a senior director at Franklin Street and a senior associate at Marcus & Millichap.
The company has three exclusive assignments since launching at the end of March — two multifamily properties in Hialeah and a land development opportunity in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood, at 314 Northeast 26th Terrace.
The 5,300-square-foot site east of Biscayne Boulevard is zoned for up to 36 stories. The two-story office building onsite is leased to two tenants, making it a well-positioned site for investors looking for income-producing land in an exploding area, Mekras said.
The property, which last traded for $37,500 in 1994, is now on the market for $1.335 million.
MSP’s goal for this year, Mekras told TRD, is to pick up more inventory for the company’s client base of income investors, and focus on relationships with those clients.
“A lot of times when you’re at a company where the goal is growth and expansion, you lower [your] standards. That became tiresome,” he said. “We’re small enough so that quality control is possible.”