The elite of LA’s luxury Real Estate brokers crowded into the plush screening room of The London West Hollywood in Beverly Hills on Monday to view the hottest upcoming developments and sumptuous off-market properties. Quickly becoming a real estate rite of spring, The Upfronts, presented by The Society Group and the Wall Street Journal, gives high-powered brokers the opportunity to learn about the latest projects around the world.
On a panel featuring Christie’s International’s Cindy Ambuhel and Tomer Fridman, and RE Socal’s Scott Moore, the power agents presented three current off-market homes. One stand-out was the 9000+ square-foot estate at 717 Moreno Avenue in Brentwood, designed by noted architect Michael Kovac.
The panel also discussed the importance of off-market sales, particularly after the devastating January fires. Off-market transactions have skyrocketed in recent years, with many celebrities and high-net-worth sellers wary of making real estate transactions public. It’s so prevalent, many of last year’s top sales in LA never even hit Zillow or other multiple listing services.
Ambuhel noted that off-market sales bring inherently competitive agents together. “It’s so important to have these relationships within the agent community where you can call each other, share these off markets, even share who the client is and know that it can be trusted and it’s not going to go past them,” she said. “And it’s why our agent community is so important.”
The popularity of high-rise living in the world’s capitals of culture and commerce also shows no sign of abating. Aaron Kirman of Christie’s International presented the plans for Burj Azizi in Dubai, slated to be the second-tallest tower in the world. “It is going to have a lot of firsts,” Kirman noted. “It’s going to have the highest restaurant, the highest club, the highest movie theater, the highest grocery store, all in there. It’s absolutely incredible.”
The skyscraper will also contain luxury residences, which Kirman expects will attract international interest. “What we’re seeing today is a lot of buyers are just global buyers from all over the place,” he said. “You could have somebody that wants to buy [a] Malibu property …and also wants to be in Dubai, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai.”
And as Kirman noted, finding these ultra-wealthy global elites the perfect home is always a delicate dance. “I always say, rich people always think they’re the richest person and there’s no other rich people and they’re the only ones that are here to buy,” he joked.
Back in America, Richard Hicks, Kane Manera and Andrew Peerless of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group discussed two recently completed flagship properties — One High Line in West Chelsea and Central Park Tower on Billionaires’ Row in Midtown (currently the tallest residential tower in the world), where 2-bedrooms start at $8.1 million. “We are seeing a real drive, interestingly, from a lot of people on the West Coast,” Manera noted, “who are looking into making New York more of a full-time place.”
Nashville is also seeing increased interest from Angelenos, as the entertainment industry continues to gravitate towards the capital of country music. “I’ve been in Nashville for six [years],” Kris Wylder of Corcoran Reverie noted, “and what has happened in the real estate industry there, especially in the luxury real estate industry there, has been incredible… I’d say 90% of my buyers are coming from New York or Los Angeles. That’s a lot of people that are either going back and forth between LA to Nashville to do their jobs…They’re potentially moving there because we don’t have state income taxes, and we have very low property taxes. It’s also an easy flight back and forth between the two.”
Wylder presented renderings of The Residences at The Nashville Edition, which will break ground in late 2025. The Nashville Edition will include 84 residences atop a 15-story hotel. The project’s price per square foot sets a new record for Nashville. One-bedroom apartments will start at $1.6 million.
For ski enthusiasts, Shelia Hall of Summit Sotheby’s International Realty presented plans for the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Deer Valley. Opening in 2028 in Utah, the project is part of a massive expansion of the ski resort dubbed “East Deer Valley.” Rounding out the presentations, Anita Verma-Lallian of Arizona Land Consulting spoke about the investment opportunities available in Arizona for buying land to be converted into AI data centers.
After the show, brokers headed to the London Bar for cocktails and bites. The bar filled with good spirits and the loud chatter of wheeling and dealing. “I think we’re all pretty lucky to be in real estate and working together in a room like this,” Kirman said. “Because bringing people together is what we do.”