New York Firm Acquires Miami Retail Brokerage That Specializes In Big Projects
Ripco Real Estate, a retail brokerage headquartered in New York, acquired Miami-based Acre, a firm that has helped lease some of South Florida’s leading mixed-use projects.
Acre’s lead brokers, Marty Arrivo and Aracibo Quintana, will join Ripco, bringing along two additional brokers and relocating to Ripco’s Miami office at 1221 Brickell Ave., which opened in 2021.
"Adding Marty, Aracibo, and the entire Acre team to RIPCO represents a transformative step for RIPCO,” Ripco President Mark Kaplan said in a statement. “Their expertise and market credibility are unsurpassed, and I am thrilled about our collaboration to enhance our retail leasing capabilities in South Florida.”
A Ripco spokesperson declined to disclose the cost of the acquisition.
The Acre team has an extensive track record of bringing banner brands to high-profile projects, including bringing Lucid Motors, Starbucks and others to Brickell City Centre.
Arrivo has closed more than 4M SF of transactions across Florida, according to a release. He led the retail leasing strategy for CityPlace, the Downtown West Palm Beach mixed-use development owned by Related Cos. that recently reverted to its original name from The Square. He helped bring in tenants including Anthropologie, West Elm, Lululemon and Sweetgreen.
He also led the repositioning and leasing of Kimco’s Dania Pointe, the 102-acre mixed-use development with 1M SF of retail south of Fort Lauderdale, attracting brands like Nike, Sephora, J.Crew and H&M.
“Joining RIPCO allows us to leverage their extensive backend services and robust client base to elevate the retail environments we are passionate about creating,” Arrivo said in a statement.
Quintana was previously the director of Americas real estate at Apple and a senior director of real estate and construction at Nike before moving on to Acre.
He helped the boutique fitness brand Barry’s relocate its headquarters from Los Angeles to Wynwood and launched the South Florida presence of brands including Lucid Motors, Nike Rise and Mexican restaurant firm Tacombi.
Arrivo and Quintana are joining Ripco as executive vice presidents, bringing along Elizabeth Higgins as a director and Sam Paniello as an associate.
The additions bring Ripco’s Florida headcount to 30 staff across its offices in Miami and Tampa, which also opened in 2021. A spokesperson for the firm said it is looking to make other acquisitions across South Florida to bolster its presence in the region.
Ripco has 150 total staff across eight offices in New York City, New Jersey, Connecticut and South Florida, according to its website. It was founded in 1991 and has completed 30M SF of retail leases or sales in New York and Florida.
Its first merger was the 2022 acquisition of BCD, a real estate firm focused on food and beverage clients.
