Marcus & Millichap’s Toronto office has been open just over a year, and broker of record Daniel Holmes tells us it’s been a triumphant inaugural annum for these “new kids on the block,” with seven deals done in December alone and an agent army that grows bigger each month.

Daniel’s mission upon launching the Toronto branch: build the local M&M team while forging office culture. And broker deals, of course. Daniel and company have done the team-building part. “Our target was 22 agents and we’re at 23 at the moment,” drawing talent from boutique brokerages around town; even a few young bucks from Guelph University's real estate program. And the firm’s looking to grow further. “We took 6k SF and we’ve still got empty desks,” Daniel says, referring to M&M’s 20 Queen St W HQ.

The culture's coming along too. The office has an SNL-inspired cowbell, used to celebrate listings and deals (one agent got so excited upon closing a deal, he broke a drumstick). Speaking of deals, highlights for M&M’s first year in Toronto include brokering the sale of 577 and 579 King St W (seen above) for $4.1M to a “big time” local developer who plans to reinvest in the mixed-use buildings, which have retail at grade and apartments above, Daniel says. M&M also handled the $1.5M sale of 410 Dundas St E (below), a charming 4k SF brick-and-beam building with ground-floor offices and retail space, and music studios in the basement.

Daniel says his group is working on more deals across Ontario, in Oshawa, Port Colborne, Kingston and Ottawa. He believes his brokers have an advantage because they specialize on a particular product type—whether it be office, industrial, multifamily or retail—in a particular part of the city. “So there’s no way an agent who’s a jack of all trades can compete with ours,” he reasons. M&M continues to build its TO presence, and 2015 will see it establish a foothold in other Canadian centres, with Ottawa the first stop planned. “The firm’s backing us with expansion into more markets,” Daniel says. “Which is a sign this is working.”