Avison Young is the latest of a small but growing list of commercial real estate firms choosing to operate in the brave new digital world of the metaverse. The brokerage will serve as the exclusive leasing agent for Everyrealm, a metaverse investor and developer. Avison Young will represent ownership for Everyrealm’s digital retail space in Decentraland called the MetaMall, which consists of 364,000 square feet of digital space and includes a game room, three floors available for lease, and 121,000 square feet of customizable digital area.
Avison Young’s Director of the Technology Practice Group, Peter Johnson, and Avison Young Associate Leah Zafra will serve as the metaverse leasing agents. Johnson and Zafra will also represent Everyrealm’s real-world real estate interests, including its location in New York City at 335 Madison Ave. “Avison Young is one of the few traditional commercial brokerage firms that understand metaverse real estate, so it was a natural decision for us to work with them,” Everyrealm CEO Janine Yorio said.
A recent survey indicated some companies are questioning the metaverse’s real estate viability, but big-name real estate firms seem increasingly willing to give it a shot, including CBRE and Jamestown. Many expect the metaverse to be a massive money-maker, and big corporations like Nike and JPMorgan are investing in it now. But many questions remain, including the long-term drawn of the platform. Any metaverse investments in these early days will be speculative and subject to high volatility, so most investors looking to buy commercial space might not see a return on their investment for a long while.
