RESIDE® by Sotheby’s International Realty Podcast | Episode 1

Inspired by the pages of RESIDE® Magazine, RESIDE by Sotheby’s International Realty® explores the incredible people, places, and brands featured in the magazine, bringing their stories to life. From the nightlife of one of the world’s favorite cities, to art and beyond, RESIDE by Sotheby’s International Realty explores the best of luxury living.

On this episode, we talk to Jessica Averbuch of Zeitlin Sotheby’s International Realty about Nashville’s nightlife, Tom Kalenderian from Barneys New York about their new Home collection, and Mayi De la Vega of ONE Sotheby’s International Realty about Art Basel in Miami.

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Episode 1 Transcript:

Hello and welcome to RESIDE® by Sotheby’s international realty I’m Erik Weinbrecht your host and guide as we dive into the pages of reside magazine to discover more about the incredible people places and brands featured within. Please be sure to like follow and subscribe to bad seventies realty on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube for incredible homes and stories from around the world. Without further delay let’s get started. 

Nashville is one of America’s vibrant landmarks and one with a heart fueled by a historic musical heritage featured in the latest edition of the magazine I have the pleasure of being joined by Jessica Averbuch CEO of Zeitlin Sotheby’s International Realty. 

Hi Jessica 

Hi Erik, how are you?

I’m well. How about you?

I’m doing great we’re having a beautiful sunny day in Nashville so all is good. 

Perfect, how is the market performing there are you are you seeing any kind of trends? 

Absolutely I mean Nashville has been named as I’m sure you’re aware as one of the “it” cities and it is exploding in growth and another thing were really known for which I think is very important as were named as one of the most-friendly cities and the United States. So it’s a very special time here from a growth perspective in terms of our market where growing Nashville really is middle Tennessee and we are growing in every direction in this region but we’re also experiencing tremendous growth and revitalization of our urban core, so a major trend in Nashville right now is if you go downtown you will see cranes absolutely everywhere and it’s everything from large hotels to huge mixed use office types of developments and then amazing residential properties and high-rises that we just truly didn’t have in the past and now we’ve got many of them coming out of the ground so it’s a very exciting time in our real estate market. So it’s really momentum is the word that I would use to describe our market and kind of the trends that you see throughout.

I knew in the back of my head I had a feeling you’re going to mention those cranes every time I talk to somebody from Nashville especially from Zeitlin Sotheby’s International Realty they always mention the cranes. 

Yes, there is growth everywhere and we had a lot of room to grow and so now you’re just truly seeing all the different aspects of our city on whether it’s the arts or business or healthcare or education everybody is kind of partaking 

and speaking of that growth, Zeitlin Sotheby’s International Realty joined with the brand in April of this year

it was incredibly exciting to have this opportunity to be affiliated with truly the best of the best in terms of world class service and it’s really exciting to be in a city like Nashville because people want to come to Nashville from all over the world. In fact I’ll tell a cute story I met at an owner of a side to these in French Polynesian Island aren’t just two weeks ago at a conference and as you can imagine I was pretty fascinated by the idea of living in French Polynesia and that island culture and when I told him where I was from I told him Nashville Tennessee his eyes got so round he got so excited he said, “Nashville… Oooo I want to visit there!” And so we have that kind of a lawyer in appeal and it’s exciting because when you’re part as on the incredible network as real estate brokerages around the world what we found since we joined and April is they’re all coming to town they’re all coming to see us they want to have fun, and they want to experience it and they know people that are moving here so they want to they want to make that connection.

Now correct me if I’m wrong I think in the article you mentioned birthdays and bachelorette parties and bachelor parties I believe Nashville has a nickname?

We do we are we are the number one where the capital for bachelorette parties and you can see and feel that the minute that you get here if you fly when you walk through our airport. So our airport used to be you know a pretty typical airport now you know number one the sound of live music as it should be is what greets you when you got off the plane and then whether you want to go to a wine bar or get a manicure you know it’s well suited for people who are coming in to have a fun celebratory weekend and there’s lots of parties yeah.

I guess that would that would also explain the “Nash Vegas?”

right exactly yeah people come here to have a really good time and we show that to them

so other than the night life and the parties that are that are bringing people to national what else is really driving the culture there?

Well you know culture wise obviously we’ve always been known as music city but what I think a lot of people don’t realize you know number one it’s not just country music so there is so much industry with all the record labels that are here and so much draw to the lifestyle of Nashville on that you see musicians from Justin Timberlake too I mean just a wide range of pop or other genres of music in people on their team and who come here. But the other piece that I think people maybe don’t realize is just that that the rich cultural scene. So we have an unbelievable amount of ways for people to really have an amazing cultural experience here and they range from free range from very traditional; the Tennessee performing arts center where you can go see you know all of that brought off-Broadway you know shows that everybody enjoys. And then we have really innovative on opportunities we have a wonderful place called OZ and it is a destination for innovative contemporary art experiences on both interactive all mediums are Schermerhorn symphony is that the building is known as one of the best acoustically in the world and that draws again not just classical music but all genres of music which is really incredible. We have art crawls once a month happening all over town in different neighborhoods so it’s just a very rich vibrant art scene. Just a couple years ago we had at hotel opened up called the 21C. art museum hotel and it is an incredible experience if you’re an art lover that’s definitely where you want to stay when you come to Nashville.

like we mentioned a few times so far in the night life is the big scene and that is the central point of the piece in the latest version of RESIDE and a few locations hot spots are highlighted in yellow let let’s talk about one or two of them what’s one on that list that really jumps out at you?

One is Patterson house Patterson house is a wonderful place to either start or end your evening on. It’s a traditional speakeasy at very call it has a very exclusive the all other they don’t take reservations so it’s accessible to everyone and it’s a very intimate experience and you’re not just there to drink your there to really have an experience and to taste these incredible craft cocktails with made from ingredients like you’ve never experienced.

I think everybody has it has quite a package trip ahead of them next time they had to Nashville. So thank you very much for joining us today and giving us a tour of your incredible city.

I’ll why it has been my absolute pleasure I hope everyone will come and visit us there really there’s something for everyone and it’s the most-friendly city so people really they welcome you with open arms.

Thanks again to Jessica and Zeitlin Sotheby’s International Realty for joining us today. From the music halls and night life of Nashville let’s take a trip to New York City to see how one of the world’s most renowned retailers is changing the landscape home décor. The Barneys New York and their flagship store on Madison Avenue represent not only a pivotal piece of Manhattan’s history, but also a cornerstone of the greater luxury world. Today that world is expanding joining me is Tom Kalenderian executive vice president and general merchandise manager for men’s, children’s, and home at Barneys New York to tell us more about the brand’s latest foray into homes.

Hi Tom how you doing?

I’m great how are you?

I’m well. So tell me about a little bit about what’s going on there at Barneys.

Well we’re really excited that we have this opportunity to create a new experience and an elevated experience for our home client both the client who is the end user as well as the decorators, designers, and architects that come to the store looking for incredible gifts and beautiful home decor products.

Now is this something that’s considered familiar territory for you guys there or is this a really a kind of a brand new offering?

Well the product dates back into the late seventies when the owners wife Phyllis Pressman decided to create an emporium for fantastic gifts and the original iteration of the business she primarily focused on antiques so we had beautiful Lalique and Baccarat and Majolica and in addition to that expanded and expanded with needing new and more product so the obvious the obvious result was they developed a gift shop that was like no other. And as many people know the Barneys cachet it’s an eclectic and very interesting concept of finding rare and exclusive products. So Mrs. Pressman built the basis of the business on trying to find extremely exclusive, special products that would be at the level of our clients and would peak their interest. So as this business evolved by the time into the eighties by 1986 then the women store opened it was a full blown gift shop with children’s gifts and an infant department and the table top department and it really became a Mecca and in Emporium for these kinds of special to core and high takes products.

Has this experience always been in this special part of the building? In the in the piece in RESIDE magazine that there’s a lot of talk about the Chelsea passage and it just seems like a very storied and a very historic space to kind of house this experience?

The brand name the Chelsea passage was something that grew out of actually finding a space at the original store location at Seventh Avenue and 17th street there were many buildings that comprise the total men’s store at the time. In between two buildings there were this great alley that they were able to open up and cover with the beautiful glass roof that created a skylight of fact and it literally was a passage between two buildings so the name the Chelsea passage stuck and it became the brand identifier for this collection of products.

How did you guys go about choosing the artists and the you know the talent to pair with in this new venture?

Not unlike our clients were always looking for something unexpected and that is really the DNA of the brand you probably know that about Barneys when you think about the fashion we carry why would it be any different when it comes to the interior is that we think about? So, in that sense it is part of our DNA it’s part of the way we think it’s our thought process in terms of how to cultivate the assortments and how to create a mix that’s compelling that will excite the customer, so it’s very important for us to always come up with something surprising and new and to keep moving. And one of the things that were always thinking about is how to animate that in the stores – and we’ve designated a space in the store we call it our pop-up space and it will consistently change throughout the year every two to three months and will have a different installation. Which allows us to experiment to test something and hopefully find the next new great thing that becomes another core part of our business.

Where do you see this going in the future? What would you like to see accomplished in in this in this venture?

I do think the Barneys New York home is a great opportunity mainly for our clients and as we’ve evolved the client is now sometimes the designer in the architect and in many ways the fact that they’re using Barneys as a resource is very exciting.

Thank you very much for your time today Tom you can read more about Barneys New York home and the location in the latest edition of reside and on our website and of course if you’re in the area definitely stop by and see with your own eyes thanks again Tom!

Thank you Erik and don’t forget to look at us on barneys.com.

Tom and his team at Barneys New York are continuing a long tradition of reinvention, one infused with art, culture, and a grand sense of creation. Speaking of art, last week brought one of the world’s most talked about art events to Miami. I had the opportunity to check in with Mayi de la Vega at ONE Sotheby’s International Realty shortly before the event made its return.

It’s that time of year again, Art Basel is around the corner and ready to capture the city of Miami. With me is Mayi de la Vega, founder and CEO of ONE Sotheby’s International Realty to give us the ins and outs of Art Basel in Miami.

Hi Mayi, how’s it going?

Hi how are you?

I am well thank you for joining me today!

My pleasure, thank you for having me.

So can you just tell me a little bit about the impact of that Art Basel has when it comes to town?

It just creates a super exciting time there’s all kinds of parties everywhere. Everybody wants to jump on the bandwagon and be a part of Art Basel which is so exciting for our city because the restaurants are busy and it just, you see the best of South Florida during that time. You really do get great people from all over the world all different cultures and it’s so exciting to see that you know and to see the growth actually of how the city has is enamored really with Art Basel.

Are there any exhibits or artist you’re particularly excited about?

I’m always excited to see Tomas Seraceno’s works. Seraceno is a wonderful Argentinian contemporary artist he does large scale interactive installations kind of like floating sculptures. It’s always fascinating to see the galleries you know the actual exhibition at the center and also the growth of the fairs that have their important artists but somehow don’t make it to the main convention center. All the off-fairs that they have are really quite interesting from Pinta that basically showcases a lot of the Latin American artists as well as you know Nada on and on and they just have multiple off fairs that are just really interesting Red Dot just tons of them that are great too to visit.

Finding the hidden gems…

Yes, finding the little hidden gems yes you can find like this great Japanese artist that does small glass work and you know prices also that I think there’s got to really serious collectors and then you’ve got maybe some of the millenials and younger folks that are starting to starting a collection and are doing the research and looking for these hidden gem so you find a lot of that in these are small art fairs throughout the city

It seems like it’s catering to not just the you know the seasoned collector but like you said also you know that maybe the burgeoning one that the people that are looking to get into the into the art form of collecting?

Exactly and I think that’s also some of the purpose of some of the talks take place during this time. Really encouraging everyone to participate in see art as something important in everyone’s lives. And you can collect art and you know you can they’ve got all kinds of price points so it’s really wonderful to see the community engaged in such great enthusiasm during this time period.

You know you mentioned again in the peace just kind of how important this, this event really is to the city of Miami and I don’t want to give away all of the great tips and tidbits that that you included in RESIDE magazine, but if I had to distill you down to one thing that you have to do while you’re in Miami during art Basel what would that one thing be?

That’s a tough question that’s a really tough question! I just basically stop working for those three or four days and just kind of really try that schedule myself to be able to go to as much as possible from because it it’s really I mean it starts you know early in the morning and it goes through by the time you’re done with events and parties and you know exhibits. I love Milos on South Beach I love going there and it’s a great vibe it’s beautiful people. I also love going to Casa Tua there’s a lot of that energy there it’s a beautiful small little boutique place to have a private club upstairs so… I like I like going to those two and you always meet people and but you never really never know we’re going to end because it’s just so busy that some days you just don’t eat or end up anywhere except home!

Well that’s the beauty of an event like this and especially when it’s in a place like Miami such as a global city with so many options. Thank you so much for spending the time with me to talk about art Basel and for everyone listening if you need any more information about the event or anymore ideas if you’re visiting be sure to check out a Mayi’s piece in RESIDE magazine.

Thank you so much and I hope to see everyone here!

Thank you again Jessica, Tom, and Mayi for joining me today and being a part of podcast number one. Thanks also to Stephen Connelly, our editor behind the board, and all of you for listening. If you’re craving more RESIDE visit us at sothebysrealty.com/reside for more from this and past issues. Until next time…