Businesses across the country are beginning to reopen and embrace normalcy for the first time in over a year. For David Abrams, founder and CEO of masonre, this makes it the perfect time for his real estate brokerage and advisory firm to continue its expansion, extending its reach nationally and capitalizing on a momentum Abrams built throughout his life.
masonre achieves this primarily through the entrepreneurial spirit and relationship-driven strategies employed by its founder. Bringing years of experience to the table and an unbridled enthusiasm for his work, Abrams prides himself on his ability to identify unique solutions and execute transactions tailored to satisfy clients’ every need. In contrast to other brokerages, masonre achieves this through an innovative combination of data-driven analytics, community outreach, and insider knowledge of both tenant and landlord priorities. masonre goes beyond conventional real estate brokerage for clients to form relationships with the firm that they both trust and can rely on for years to come.
The connections Abrams has established throughout his career are paving the path for masonre’s future expansion to have a presence in Los Angeles. Today, masonre operates in Miami and New York, where it regularly collaborates with nationally and locally known brands. According to Abrams, he can achieve this dichotomy due to his ability to understand businesses inside and out and identify information that landlords are looking for in today’s market. Accessing this information and presenting it in a way that provides a comprehensive overview of each client is key to masonre’s strategy.
“David presented us with a quality of marketing materials and research that greatly exceeded our expectations,” said Joey Chilelli, Senior Vice President, Vanbarton Group. “The extensive decks and high-end graphics he developed made great use of data across all sectors, and they were also incredibly cohesive and easy to understand. masonre’s level of depth is one we are accustomed to seeing at much larger firms.”
Chilelli’s remarks reflect Abrams’ dedication to addressing areas he believes the industry is lacking. Similarly, Abrams uses masonre to address the disconnect between landlords and prospective tenants that too often impedes transactions. He believes that this disconnect stems from a lack of cohesion between the two parties and an emphasis being placed on the transactions themselves rather than on the pursuit of a mutually beneficial relationship. This realization was pivotal in Abrams’ career, inspiring him to create a firm that uses brand recognition and a strong focus on community to bring people together while achieving common goals.
Helping Clients Grow and Scale
“Growing up, my mother taught me to ‘work, give back to the family, and when there’s any left over, give back to the community,’” he said in an exclusive interview with The Real Deal. “That’s the mentality behind masonre’s mission. Like masonry, our focus is to build strong foundations first, through quality craftsmanship and using premium products. We’re more about partnership and less about the transactions.”
Abrams’ partnerships underline this ideal. Despite leaving Newmark in an official capacity, he continues to work closely with his former colleagues. He has partnered with firms such as Vanbarton Group, Crescent Heights, First Atlantic Capital, AFIAA, and several others. These collaborations have resulted in deals made in both New York and Miami, such as Miami’s 45 NE 41st Street and New York’s 980 Avenue of the Americas.
“David has an aura and career history that immediately made us comfortable and confident that he’s in our corner,” said Matt Wade, founder of City of Saints Coffee Roasters. “I told him had he told me his story when we first met, I would have had today’s level of trust in him from day one. His varied experience and unmitigated drive are unparalleled.”
The drive that Wade refers to is responsible for masonre’s survival during the past year’s turbulent real estate atmosphere. Rather than waiting for the storm to pass, Abrams chose to concentrate on becoming a stronger and more efficient broker. This involved a heightened focus on becoming an authority in retail leasing – representing both landlord and tenant. By gaining valuable experience from both sides of the table, Abrams can provide masonre’s clients with perspectives that significantly streamline transactions and allow masonre to navigate them with an efficiency that other firms cannot. This leads to continued partnerships through which masonre supports client growth and helps them expand their opportunities.
One example of how masonre fostered this growth and engaged community was its work with Crescent Heights on 1212 Lincoln Road, a retail and hotel development in the heart of Miami Beach. Abrams reached out to artist Elizabeth Sutton with an innovative plan to introduce her to the location’s landlord and demonstrate the space’s value as a venue. By identifying and applying Sutton’s brand to her real estate needs, masonre promoted the location and enhanced her brand awareness by creating a community-wide event where visitors could view Sutton’s work against the backdrop of the retail space. This “above and beyond” mindset is central to what distinguishes masonre from its contemporaries.
“I’ve always hated the idea that brokers are just after your money,” he explained. “That’s not who I am, and that’s not what masonre is about. I’ve always focused on the long-term view and am building a platform to support that vision. Our priority is to build brand awareness for our clients and ourselves. In the past, I’ve had clients tell me they didn’t know who I worked for, and I don’t think that’s a compliment to a brand.”
Abrams is emphasizing technology’s role in masonre’s future. A self-described “computer nerd,” Abrams began building computers as a teenager–he considers technology to be a crucial yet not fully realized aspect of the modern real estate industry. Abrams has fully embraced the importance of collecting and analyzing data, priding himself on masonre’s custom-built infrastructure to provide the best product for their clients.
“I don’t want to give away too much of the secret sauce,” he noted, “but on a high level, I’m presenting my clients with an institutional package in a boutique delivery.”
Abrams’ embrace of technology can also be seen in his upcoming video series on LinkedIn beginning today. Hosted on the masonre website, these videos will feature guides and best practices for landlords, tenants, brokers, and entrepreneurs to learn from his experiences and become more efficient in business.
Abrams says that he fell in love with the real estate industry after renting his first apartment and meeting a broker for the first time. Years later, that passion has blossomed into masonre, a firm that identifies creative solutions for landlord and tenant needs. By prioritizing building strong foundations and establishing personal relationships with its clients, masonre is rapidly becoming known as the brokerage that clients can trust implicitly from day one. As it looks to expand into more cities, masonre and its founder are both poised to make a tremendous impact on the country’s rebounding real estate market.
