Gary Hennes
20 years of selling Miami Beach and South Florida real estate is the foundation of Gary Hennes and his brokerage Gary Hennes Realtors. One of the pioneers of the South Beach market, Gary has helped hundreds of local and international buyers fulfill their dreams of owning part of Miami Beach. An entrepreneurial education began with his families involvement in real estate in northeast Ohio which included collecting income producing properties while consumed with the growing of their multi-city ownership of Manpower Inc. which began in the mid 1950s with his father and uncle.
After the sale of Manpower in the 1970s and a family move to south Florida, Gary’s education direction broadened to a market that was substantially larger and faster moving than that of Ohio. After graduating from college, he moved to Miami Beach in the 1980s. With family on Meridian, Biscayne Point and a Nanna in the Sherry Frontenac Hotel, the appeal of Miami Beach was undeniable. His grandmother dreamed of a day that Miami Beach would come back to the life that she recalled and believed that Gary would be part of the future of the city. From Lincoln Road to Arthur Godfrey to Bal Harbour, she encouraged a look at the beauty beneath the neglect and to look critically at the buildings and view them as what they originally must have looked like. Long after this it was noticed that there was parallel to the personal story of Barbara Capitman the Deco historian responsible for the focus on restoration and the historic designation of the art deco district.
35 buildings over the last 2 decades have been sold, developed, recreated as landmark properties in South Beach. Tribeca, Fontana, Atlantis, Marquesa, The Barbara, The Coconut, Cabana, Lunamar, Beachway and Vanderbilt are just a few of the buildings that have won awards from The Miami Design Preservation League.
From the brokerage of Susana Baker and her original South Beach Realty on Washington Avenue to Kent Karlock and his brokerage-Kent Karlock Real Estate it was in 2006 that Gary with optimism and enthusiasm opened Gary Hennes Realtors. Opening in the former space that Kent Karlock created was especially rewarding as it was the same building, The Van Dyke at the corner of Lincoln Road & Jefferson Avenue, that Carl Fisher built in 1925 and was exact place where the first parcels of Miami Beach land were sold. “I have always worked on the principle that real estate is local in nature, service-oriented and personality driven, I think that the fact I’ve been in the same market for so long lends crediblity of our office. Melding a boutique and corporate approach to home and condominium development ownership and sales that actually creates a market rather than simply following trends.
