Engel & Völkers opens offices in Blaine, northeast Minneapolis
Geoffrey Bray and Lindsay Bacigalupo have opened two more Engel & Völkers offices in the Twin Cities. One is at 9240 Baltimore St. in Blaine and the other at 207 E. Hennepin Av. in northeast Minneapolis.
In 2015, the pair debuted the German real estate brand in this market when they opened Engel & Völkers Minneapolis on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis.
Bacigalupo said opening in Blaine made sense because it's one of the fastest-growing cities in the metro and is a draw for what she says is a growing number of international buyers because of its park, golf courses and sports facilities.
"As a resident of Blaine, I have seen the real estate market blossom due to the area's many cultural and recreational offerings," Bacigalupo said.
The Engel & Völkers Minneapolis northeast office replaced a Counselor real estate office in a small storefront next to Kramarczuk's Eastern European deli.
"Northeast Minneapolis uniquely appeals to a variety of buyers with vibrant microbreweries and distilleries, notable shopping, large corporations and a boom of conversion development," Bray said.
Though the housing market in the Twin Cities is firing on all cylinders, there have been relatively few real estate office openings in the metro. Engel & Völkers, however, has been expanding rapidly, especially throughout North America. In the U.S., the company has new offices in Atlanta, Hilton Head, S.C., and New York, among several others. Several new offices in the U.S. are in the works.
"With a strong real estate market that shows no signs of slowing down, Minneapolis has demonstrated itself to be a prime location to expand our Engel & Völkers Midwest footprint," said Anthony Hitt, CEO of Engel & Völkers North America.
The company was founded in 1977 and now has more than 7,000 sales agents in more than 650 brokerages in 37 countries on five continents. The company established its North America corporate headquarters in 2007.
Jim Buchta
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