Metro 1

What Metro 1 does

Metro 1 is a privately held, founder-led full-service commercial real estate brokerage founded in 2005 by Tony Cho and headquartered in Miami, Florida. The firm operates exclusively in South Florida's urban core emerging markets — Wynwood, Little River, Little Haiti, Design District, Brickell — and provides acquisition, disposition, landlord representation, tenant representation, and capital markets services to commercial property owners, investors, developers, and tenants. Its service portfolio includes brokerage commissions, the M1 Capital subsidiary (debt and equity placement, LIHTC/NMTC advisory, Opportunity Zone and 1031 Exchange advisory), development services, and first-party market research (Emerging Markets Report).

Underlying the brokerage is an integrated marketing and PR function (described as an "internal global marketing firm") used to position both client assets and the firm itself, plus a research publication channel that supports content marketing and off-market deal generation. Go-to-market is sales-led and relationship-driven, relying on the founder's 20-year tenure, neighborhood-specific expertise, and curated tenant-mix strategy rather than technology platforms. The firm generates revenue primarily through transaction fees (brokerage commissions) and professional-services fees (capital markets and development advisory); pricing is negotiated per deal and not publicly disclosed.

Metro 1 has accumulated a transactional portfolio exceeding $4 billion across more than 1,000 transactions and 3,000,000+ square feet over 20 years, with notable clients spanning enterprise investors (Gazit Horizons, The Collective, Kushner/Block Capital, ASG Equities, Barlington Group, Morabito Properties) and enterprise tenants (Amazon, Spotify, Sony Music, PwC, Live Nation, Founders Fund, Vivienne Westwood, Knotel). The firm is consistently ranked among the South Florida Business Journal's Top 25 CRE Brokerage Firms (since 2010) and has received CoStar Power Broker recognition five times in the last seven years. The current operating footprint is regional (Miami-Dade / South Florida only), with no stated international expansion and no disclosed outside funding.

Name

Metro 1

Legal name

Metro 1

Website

https://metro1.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Metro 1 is a Miami-based, founder-led full-service commercial real estate brokerage founded in 2005, serving property owners, investors, developers, and tenants exclusively in South Florida's urban core emerging markets (Wynwood, Little River, Little Haiti, Design District) with brokerage, capital markets advisory, and development services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Miami

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Brokerage Commissions: Traditional commercial real estate brokerage commissions on sales and lease transactions. The firm represents landlords, tenants, buyers, and sellers across commercial property types.
2. Capital Markets Advisory: M1 Capital provides debt and equity placement services, including acquisition loans, preferred equity, rehab loans, construction loans, bridge loans, permanent loans, and tax credit advisory (LIHTC, NMTC).
3. Development Services: Development advisory and owner's representation services including full development analyses, adaptive reuse and ground-up development execution.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Metro 1 is a full-service commercial real estate brokerage firm providing investment sales, acquisitions, dispositions, landlord representation, and tenant representation for commercial properties in Miami's urban core neighborhoods. The firm supplements core brokerage with M1 Capital for debt and equity placement, Advisory Services for Opportunity Zones and 1031 Exchanges, and Market Research & Insights reports for South Florida commercial real estate.

Product overview

Metro 1 is a full-service commercial real estate brokerage firm operating as a single integrated platform rather than a modular software product. The company offers core brokerage services (acquisition, disposition, leasing, tenant and landlord representation) supplemented by three main service components: M1 Capital for debt and equity placement, Advisory Services for Opportunity Zones and 1031 Exchanges, and Market Research & Insights. The firm specializes in Miami's emerging urban core neighborhoods including Wynwood, Little Haiti, Little River, Design District, and surrounding areas, with a focus on creative office, retail, industrial, and mixed-use properties.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Commercial Real Estate Brokerage Services

Quantifiable outcome

• $4 billion+ transactional portfolio over 20 years
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers22 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Magic City Innovation District - Little Haiti PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016Metro 1 conceptualized and brokered the sale of over 17 acres of land and 200,000 SF of buildings that became Miami's first Innovation District. Resulted in one of Miami's largest Special Area Plans. Launched comprehensive leasing strategy across four pillars: Technology, Sustainability, Health & Wellness, and Art & Culture.
• East End CapitalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2010Metro 1 conceptualized and advised East End Capital (New York-based) through reimagining of Wynwood Arcade asset - East End's first Miami investment. Metro 1 successfully leased the building to prominent tenants including Three, Salty Donut, Ooh Raw, Edite Mode, and Innerride.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle): Global CRE services and investment management firm with capital markets, agency leasing, and tenant representation capabilities. Directly comparable services to Metro 1, particularly in urban-core office and retail leasing for corporate clients.
• Colliers International: Global CRE services firm with significant investment sales, landlord/tenant representation, and capital markets practices. Competes with Metro 1 across asset classes and increasingly in South Florida's institutional deal flow.
• CBRE Group: World's largest commercial real estate services firm offering brokerage, capital markets, valuation, and advisory. Competes with Metro 1 for institutional leasing and investment sales mandates in Miami and would be the natural counter-bidder on deals like the $53.5M Wynwood transactions.
• Cushman & Wakefield: Global commercial real estate services firm with investment sales, leasing, and capital markets practices. Overlaps directly with Metro 1's brokerage and capital advisory offerings, especially as it expands its South Florida institutional coverage.
• Newmark Group: Full-service global CRE services firm with strong investment sales, leasing, and capital markets capabilities. Overlaps with Metro 1 in investment sales and landlord/tenant representation, particularly in South Florida, while operating a much broader national platform.

Emerging players

• Walker & Dunlop: Commercial real estate finance company focused on debt origination and equity placement. Adjacent to Metro 1's M1 Capital offering in providing acquisition, construction, and bridge financing to CRE investors and developers.
• Eastdil Secured: Specialized CRE investment banking and capital markets advisor focused on large institutional transactions. Comparable in that both serve institutional capital in CRE, with Metro 1's M1 Capital arm operating in an adjacent niche to Eastdil's debt/equity placement.

Direct peers

• Avison Young: Privately-held global commercial real estate services firm offering brokerage, capital markets, and advisory. Highly comparable as a principal-led, privately-owned CRE platform that competes with Metro 1 in commercial leasing and investment sales, while operating at a much larger footprint.
• Marcus & Millichap: Specialized US commercial real estate investment sales brokerage with a multi-market, agent-driven model similar to Metro 1's sales-led approach. Directly comparable in business model (transaction commissions on CRE deals) and in serving private and institutional investors, though at far greater national scale.

Regional players

• Stiles Corporation: South Florida-based full-service real estate firm with development, brokerage, and capital markets operations. Directly comparable geographic focus and similar integrated model, though more weighted to development services and large-scale office brokerage in Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/metro1cre
• Xx.com/metro1prop
• Facebookfacebook.com/metro1prop

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Metro 1