Arden Karson, CBRE’s executive leader for South Florida departed the firm June 1 to launch KARSON & CO, a venture aimed at assisting multi-family and hospitality investors and related businesses thrive in the face of the challenges and opportunities related to COVID-19. She will be offering integrated real estate solutions to support clients with their investment and business objectives utilizing her more than twenty-five year track record of deal-making and community service accomplishments.

Ms. Karson commented, “The world has changed dramatically over the past few months and now is the perfect time for me to play an active role in the revival and reinvention of South Florida which is heavily dependent on the real estate industry. Karson & Co initially will be dedicated to helping local businesses and real estate owners reopen and rebound by connecting them to critical resources needed to help them thrive in this new normal.”

Ms. Karson is a lifelong resident of South Florida and a third-generation real estate professional. A graduate of Tufts University and Harvard Business School, she has extensive experience collaborating with and advising some of the area’s largest and most successful real estate companies including Related Group, Lennar/LNR, Arvida and most recently as Senior Managing Director of CBRE where she oversaw the growth of the region’s four offices and 200 professionals. While at Related, Ms. Karson spearheaded the $500 million development and sellout of Brickell Heights, a two-tower, 690-unit luxury mixed-use condominium with state-of-the-art amenities including an Equinox Fitness Center.

She has an extensive background in sales and marketing, development, acquisition, asset management, leasing and financing of commercial properties across all asset types including hotels, restaurants, residential and mixed-use properties. In addition to running the brokerage and sales operations several companies, she has worked with a variety of lenders, equity sources and third-party operators.

Ms. Karson finds it exciting to be going back to her family’s roots as her grandparents who came to Miami in the 1920s were early developers of hotels and restaurants helping the city recover from the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926.

In April, Karson founded the South Florida Chapter of Frontline Foods to support local restaurants while feeding workers on the frontline. Ms. Karson also serves on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Underline and on the Advisory Board of the University of Miami’s Masters in Real Estate + Urbanism , the Urban Land Institute and the Michigan Ross Real Estate Fund. She is a supporter and fund raiser for Sylvester Cancer Center/Dolphins Cancer Challenge. She is also on the Board of Advisors of Deep Blocks, a South Florida prop tech start up and was the founder of Endlessly Organic, an on-line organic produce company.

To follow Ms. Karson on her new journey please be sure to connect at www.karsonco.com