Former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann rolled out a new in-house brokerage network to boost sales at his latest venture, a condominium tower called Flow House in Miami, to bring together agents and potential buyers.
The new platform was unveiled at an event celebrating the launch of sales at Flow House, the company’s first condo project, with sales being led by One World Properties. He said the company aims to foster a sense of community, that "when Flow says community, it’s who we are. It’s what we mean.”
For Flow, that meant designing a tool for brokers to more effectively sell the company's properties while building their personal brands, said Charles Myslinsky, Flow's head of product, in an interview with CoStar News.
“One of the big investments we've made in Flow in technology is basically thinking about how technology can spark community and help people connect," Myslinsky said. "When we started the Flow House project, we basically brought these same principles to the relationship we wanted to build with the broker and agent community."
It's one of the ways the company is aiming to distinguish itself from being a typical multifamily real estate developer. Neumann launched Flow in 2022 after receiving a $350 million investment from Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Flow's goal was to revolutionize the apartment industry in the same manner Neumann sought to change the flexible office industry with WeWork.
Neumann settled in the Miami area after being ousted in 2019 from WeWork, the coworking company he helped propel into a multi-billion-dollar real estate empire before its first attempt at an initial public offering was scrapped amid corporate governance concerns. Those events were later made into an Apple TV limited series. WeWork filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year.
'One-stop shop'
Myslinsky said the goal is to save time and money for agents by providing “turnkey” assets and experiences that can be set up in seconds. “What we wanted to do was give people a one-stop shop,” he said.
The platform allows agents to build a personally branded website, complete with personal information as well as brokerage information, direct contact information, English, Spanish, and Portuguese language availability, and connects to other social media platforms, “to keep the agent at the center of the relationship in the context of our project,” Myslinsky said.
Myslinski described other real estate networks as being built in a “very different generation of the internet,” showing static photos or requiring agents to look for the most current information, rather than being automatically updated, said Peggy Olin, One World's chief executive. She added in a separate interview with CoStar News that “this is very product-specific and development specific. The tools that are out there are more for research on the market.”
Olin added that the biggest difference was that Flow's initiative “gives you information about the property, and it’s branded to you. Therefore, as an agent, you’re able to share with all of your buyers, all of your prospects, customized material about the project for you."
According to Olin, the new platform has already been used to help facilitate sales at Flow House, the condo originally known as Caoba II at 697 N. Miami Ave. The 40-story tower, part of the Miami Worldcenter complex, offers 466 units at what Olin described as “accessible luxury,” with prices for studio and one-bedroom units ranging from $450,000 to $600,000.
“This is finished product,” said Olin, “which people want to take advantage of,” she said, adding that as interest rates continue to drop, she expected it to be “a no-brainer for someone that’s looking for a place in Miami that’s just different.”
The tower is mostly done with some interior build-out work remaining after topping off earlier last year. The full completion is expected sometime in 2025. When it does open, Flow House will be one of the latest additions to Miami Worldcenter, a 27-acre, $6 billion master-planned development that’s filling out the remainder of Miami’s downtown core.
“Our project in Miami Worldcenter is in a neighborhood that has been coming together now for the better part of the decade. And when it's complete, and as Miami rounds out the full downtown core, this city is just going to be in a remarkably different and more connected place,” said Myslinsky.
He added that the presence of larger institutional players, like Citadel, have been making the city an increasingly easier place to attract talent. Flow has been hiring local talent while also bringing in team members from Silicon Valley and New York, including Myslinsky who relocated from the New York area.
“I think Miami is going to be one of the most important cities and one of the most important city narratives over the next 20 years. And in some ways, it feels like Miami is just getting started,” Myslinsky said.