Tony Cho
Founder & Chairman
Tony Cho is a social impact entrepreneur and the founder and chairman of Metro 1, a forward-thinking full service real estate investment, brokerage, management, and development firm, focused on shaping neighborhoods and developing sustainable cities in South Florida and beyond. Metro 1 Commercial, the award winning commercial brokerage, has completed over $2.8 billion in real estate transactions since 2005 and has been recognized every year since 2011 as one of the top 25 commercial real estate firms in the region by the South Florida Business Journal.
Market-maker and pioneer of emerging neighborhoods including Wynwood, Little River, and Little Haiti, Cho was a founding member of the Wynwood Business Improvement District (BID) and championed the progressive rezoning of the area, which transformed blighted streets into a diverse, 24-hour, mixed-use arts and innovation district.
Under his leadership, Metro 1 brought favorite local businesses— including Zak the Baker and Junior & Hatter— into the neighborhood, and, in 2012, developed the Wynwood Gateway Complex, one of the area’s most visible commercial developments.
In 2011, Tony was awarded the prestigious young leader of the year by the Urban Land Institute and holds a CCIM designation.
Cho is also the founder of the Magic City Innovation District Little Haiti, an 18-acre large-scale regenerative mixed use project located in one of Miami’s most vibrant cultural neighborhoods. Since 2000, Cho has been a long-standing advocate for the community of Little Haiti, and particularly small independent businesses. Cho has served as the president of the Non-Violence Project, providing non-violence education to at-risk youth in Miami’s most underserved schools, such as Edison Sr. High School in Little Haiti.
In 2020, Cho and his wife, Ximena Cho, launched the M1 Community Fund and the Cho Family Foundation, donor-advised philanthropic funds administered by the Miami Foundation. The first initiative of these charities was The Little Haiti Small Business Relief Fund, formed in response to COVID-19 to assist small businesses most at risk during the pandemic.
A Florida Native, originally from Vero Beach, Tony attended Northwestern University in Chicago. In addition to managing the Metro 1 portfolio of companies and charities, Cho is also the co-creator, along with his wife, of ChoZen eco-retreat and sanctuary in Sebastian, Florida, a camp for the humanity of the future.
Cho and his wife reside in Florida, splitting their time between ChoZen Retreat and Miami.
Accolades:
2007, GRI Certificate (Graduate Realtor Institute)
July 2011, Young Leader of the Year by the Urban Land Institute
June 2012, South Florida Business Journal 40 under 40
President of the Board of Directors for the Non-Violence Project
Member of the Executive Committee for the Friends of the New World Symphony
Member of the Commercial Board of Governors for the Miami Association of Realtors®
CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member)
South Florida Business Journal Power Leaders in Real Estate