Most brokerages that sell new development don’t do much of the marketing themselves. They hire out creative agencies, photographers, separate ad buyers and separate web shops. SERHANT. thinks that’s the problem.
The brokerage’s new development division, which was appointed exclusive sales and marketing agent for One Jones Park, a completed 75-unit condominium at 387 8th Street in Jersey City’s Hamilton Park neighborhood, pitches developers on a different model.
Film, creative, advertising and much of the design and analytics work stay in-house, run by the same production operation behind Ryan Serhant’s Netflix show, Owning Manhattan.
“Our competitors, and I won’t name names, run a sales company and outsource almost everything,” said Patrick Southern, sales director with SERHANT. New Development, who leads the Jersey City assignment. “What we’re able to do with SERHANT. New Development is keeping so much of the creative, advertising and marketing in-house so we can be a one-stop shop for the developer.”
New York-based developer EPIRE announced the appointment on Sept. 21, kicking off a busy few weeks for SERHANT.
Days later, Ryan Serhant took the stage at Blueprint, the real estate and construction technology conference owned by Inman, to unveil S.MPLE 2.0, the next version of SERHANT.’s AI platform. Its centerpiece is Dot, which the company calls an AI chief of staff.
Earlier this month, the brokerage also expanded into Illinois, its 20th state, entering the Chicago and North Shore markets with more than 40 agents. That team closed more than $600 million in sales over the past 12 months, according to the company.
‘Most brokerages don’t have a Ryan Serhant’
Southern, who has more than 20 years of experience in the Hudson County market, said SERHANT.’s new development division has existed in some form since he joined SERHANT. about two years ago and has been evolving since Serhant launched the brokerage in 2020.
The pitch, as Southern describes it, grew out of Serhant’s own frustrations selling new development before he started his own firm. Developers ended up juggling a patchwork of third-party vendors, he said, and each additional contract added cost and another chance for things to fall through the cracks.
Patrick Southern
“It was really hard to orchestrate a streamlined process,” Southern told Inman. “On top of that, it was expensive for the developer and everyone else involved, because of all these tentacles coming off the project.”
The centerpiece of the in-house model is ID Lab, Serhant’s creative, branding and strategic design collective within the brokerage.
SERHANT. keeps most of its content in-house, with creative agency ID Lab and film arm SERHANT. Studios producing its listing videos and social posts. SERHANT. Studios also shoots for the brokerage’s Netflix series Owning Manhattan, which is co-produced by RuPaul’s Drag Race maker World of Wonder.
Southern said the show’s look and production quality carry over to the listings. That’s a resource most brokerages can’t replicate, and Southern doesn’t pretend otherwise.
“Most brokerages don’t have a Ryan Serhant,” he said. “Whatever you think of him, he’s a force.”
A relaunch, not a launch
One Jones Park isn’t a typical SERHANT. New Development engagement.
The division usually starts with a project before launch and builds its marketing in phases. Here, it’s taking over a finished building that’s already selling. Closings began in February, and the project is move-in ready, according to EPIRE.
That makes the brokerage’s role more like a relaunch. Southern said the focus is on storytelling throughout the entire sales cycle rather than a burst of launch marketing.
“It’s an ongoing process through the entire sales cycle, not just a few photos, an MLS listing and some ads, then waiting for people to come to you,” he said.
Part of the strategy is reach. SERHANT. is marketing the building locally, in New York and in its other markets, betting that wide distribution turns up buyers who wouldn’t otherwise be looking at Jersey City. Southern noted that Serhant’s Sell It Platform has subscribers in what he estimated to be a couple hundred countries.
“Sometimes the people who see the ads aren’t the buyers themselves, but they tell someone who they think would be,” he said.
One Jones Park is a collection of 75 luxury condominium residences at 387 8th Street in the Hamilton Park neighborhood of Downtown Jersey City, New Jersey, developed by EPIRE with architecture by INOA Architecture and interiors by Stefano Pasqualetti. Image Credit: One Jones Park
The value pitch across the river
The building itself stands out in its market. Southern said downtown Jersey City’s development pipeline has been dominated by rentals since the 2008 crash, as condo economics bumped up against a price ceiling.
One Jones Park, designed by INOA Architecture with interiors by Stefano Pasqualetti, leans on imported Italian finishes, Schüco windows and amenities including a 24-hour doorman, a rooftop lounge and automated valet parking across from Enos Jones Park.
Units range from one to three bedrooms, priced from the $600,000s into the low $2 millions. Southern’s case is that buyers priced out of comparable Manhattan and Brooklyn product are getting a bargain across the river, and that many New Yorkers rent in Jersey City for a year before buying.
“They date it before they marry it,” he said.
He didn’t put a figure on the share of buyers coming from New York, describing it only as “a really good portion.”
For real estate agents and developers watching the model, the question is whether celebrity-brand production translates into faster absorption, especially on a project where the marketing has to restart mid-sales cycle.
SERHANT. is betting that the brand can do for a finished building what it usually does for a launch.
“The story has to be as good as the building,” Southern said, “and the story has to be told.”
