William Raveis Real Estate expands to Jupiter Island, Hobe Sound with acquisition
William Raveis Real Estate, Mortgage & Insurance has expanded its portfolio of Florida offices with the acquisition of Fenton & Lang, a family-owned brokerage with Martin County locations on ultra-wealthy Jupiter Island and in Hobe Sound. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Based in Shelton, Connecticut, William Raveis is a major player in the Northeast but also has a strong presence in the Sunshine State, where it does business as William Raveis South Florida. The company has an office on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach as well as locations in Naples and Sarasota.
The company entered the Palm Beach market in 2018 through a joint venture with the agency previously known as The Fite Group.
Principal David Fite will oversee the new offices on Jupiter Island and in Hobe Sound, just as he does for the company’s Palm Beach location and its satellite offices in Delray Beach, North Palm Beach and the Mirasaol country-club community in Palm Beach Gardens.
Chairman and CEO William “Bill” Raveis, who founded the company, described the acquisition as part of a strategic plan of growth.
“Jupiter Island further connects the dots between our strength in the Northeast to the luxury communities in South Florida. Slowly but surely we’re conquering the luxury market, one luxury community at a time,” Raveis said in a statement.
His strategy centers on seeking out independently owned “boutique” real estate companies, which are usually family run or a partnership, Raveis added.
The new offices will add about 12 agents to the company’s roster, Fite said.
Fenton & Lang, which dated to 1947, was sold by siblings Lia Reed Bohannon and Adrian Reed, the agency’s broker. Adrian Reed will continue at the company as a sales representative heading the Fenton & Lang Team at William Raveis South Florida, Reed said.
Reed’s grandparents pioneered the development of Jupiter Island.
“We talked to a lot of companies to really get a sense of who would be a good fit,” Reed said about the search for suitors to buy the agency.
Bill Raveis, he added, best understood his agency’s family-run culture and expressed a keen interest in learning “how we have supported the (local) community” over the decades. The new owner expressed a strong interest in continuing those efforts, Reed said.
“That was very much in line with our legacy,” he added.
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Darrell Hofheinz writes about real estate in his weekly “Beyond the Hedges” column. He welcomes news items about Palm Beach real estate for this column. Email dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com, call 820-3831 or tweet @PBDN_Hofheinz. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: William Raveis Real Estate expands to Jupiter Island with acquisition
