Engel & Völkers opens first office in Richmond

Engel & Völkers, a European brand that focuses on high-end residential real estate, announced the opening Wednesday of its first office in Richmond.

The opening comes with the union between the international brokerage and Select Properties of Virginia, a luxury real estate firm serving Richmond and the surrounding area. Select Properties, located on Grove Avenue, previously was affiliated with Christie’s International Real Estate.

Douglas C. Dorsey, a longtime residential real estate veteran who owned Select Properties, is the owner of Engel’s new operation in Richmond. 

“Following the launch of Engel & Völkers shops in Tysons and Lansdowne earlier this year, Richmond, with its natural beauty, rich historical and cultural offerings, and dynamic job market, presented itself as the ideal location to further our Southern footprint,” Anthony Hitt, CEO of Engel & Völkers North America, said in a statement. 

Hitt added that the experience, expertise and knowledge of Select Properties, combined with Engel & Völkers’ global network, would provide a strong platform for serving the real estate needs of the greater Richmond area.

Engel & Völkers Richmond will provide services for buyers and sellers of premier properties in Richmond and its surrounding counties.

The firm says Richmond is emerging as a key residential destination for global buyers who are attracted to the region’s abundance of green space and the James River, historical Monument Avenue, arts community and low cost of living. The area’s large law firms and Fortune 500 companies such as Dominion Resources, CarMax, Genworth Financial and Altria Group also are bringing new buyers to the area.

“As the Richmond real estate market continues to evolve at a rapid pace, we anticipate a growing demand for top-tier service from local and foreign buyers drawn to the area,” Dorsey said in a statement.

Engel & Völkers began in 1977 as a specialty boutique in Hamburg, Germany. Since then, it has gone on to specialize in the sale and lease of premium residential and commercial property, yachts and private aviation. Engel & Völkers said it currently operates a global network of more than 6,000 real estate advisers in more than 650 brokerages spanning 36 countries.

It opened a North America corporate headquarters and its first brokerage in North America in 2007. Each brokerage is independently owned and operated.