(To read more on the multifamily market, click here.)

MIAMI-As condominium sales and marketing continue to accelerate throughout South Florida, two unrelated real estate firms have expanded. Locally based Fortune International Realty opened a new office in Coral Gables. Boca Raton-based Lang Realty has acquired Carriage Trade Properties, also in Boca Raton, specifically to exploit opportunities in the condo market.

The new Fortune office at 2401 Douglas Rd. in Coral Gables is the company's 17th South Florida location. Oliver Ruiz, managing broker, is named manager of the new location. At the opening of the new office, Walter Defortuna, chairman, said the company will soon also open another office in West Palm Beach. Among the locations of its existing offices are Brickell, Aventura, Key Biscayne, Miami Beach, Pinecrest, South Beach and Weston along with units at approximately a half-dozen shopping malls, including Dadeland and Sawgrass Mills malls and Dolphin Mall and Lincoln Center in South Beach. The company, founded in 1983, now employs more than 850 brokers.

With existing offices in central and western Boca Raton and a third in Palm Beach Gardens, Lang has catered primarily to the country club and luxury home real estate markets in western Palm Beach County. The Carriage Trade acquisition, says Scott Argan, co-founder, "gives Lang an instant, well-established presence in the eastern market and the synergy to capitalize on new opportunities." Specifically, he says he believes "that a maturing country club population will begin to downsize, many opting for luxury condominiums and the convenience of in-town Boca Raton living." Carriage Trade has focused on condominium and waterfront properties.