Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
A Florida mansion still under construction is breaking ground in more ways than one, for the developer is building not one, but two versions of it. One in the real world, and a second, digital twin in the metaverse.
One Sotheby’s International Realty has partnered with Voxel Architects and Gabe Sierra, a collector of nonfungible tokens – NFTs – to create the “MetaReal” mansion. The collaboration is said to be the first home sale of its kind in the real estate industry.
The virtual home will be located in The Sandbox metaverse and, while the physical building is under construction in Miami, and will be completed by the end of the year.
“This is another leap into bridging physical and digital worlds into the metaverse,” said The Sandbox co-founder Sebastien Borget.
Whoever purchases the home will obtain the rights to both the physical and the digital version. The sale will include an NFT, which is a digital asset that’s attached to the blockchain and can be bought and resold.
NFT Evening reported that the 11,000 square-foot physical home is being built on a one-acre lot in Miami, and will have seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms. Once it has been finished, Voxel Architects will then render a mirror image of the mansion within The Sandbox’s metaverse.
“The metaverse counterpart of the home will serve as an extension of the real-world home, allowing the buyer to host in-home meetings, events, and parties with guests from around the world,” Meta Residence founder Gabe Sierra told Forbes. “By mimicking the real-world environment of the buyer, we are creating an experience that blends the lines between metaverse and reality. Imagine fighting off a dragon, traversing over a mountain range, and finally arriving at your metaverse property, where you are greeted by your friends who are visiting to check out your new ‘Bored Ape’ NFT. After interacting in your virtual living room, you exit the metaverse, and you are now sitting inside that same real-world house. That is the experience we are creating.”
One Sotheby’s sales agent Michael Martinez said the MetaReal mansion will be put up for auction later this year, though the reserve amount has not yet been disclosed.
MetaReal is unlikely to be the only digital building with a real-world mirror image. One Sotheby’s and Sierra have reportedly acquired more than 40 acres of space in The Sandbox metaverse for future projects.
“We believe that the metaverse is the next evolution of social connection and will play a role in the future of real estate in one way or another,” Daniel de la Vega, president of One Sotheby’s International Realty, told Forbes.com.
