Bernardita Banfi
Vice President | Retail Leasing & Neighborhood Strategy
Bernardita Banfi is Vice President at Metro 1 Commercial, where she specializes in retail leasing and strategic neighborhood development throughout Miami's Urban Core. Since joining the firm in 2014, she has been involved in more than $250 million in lease and sale transactions across retail, office, industrial, land, and mixed-use assets, with a practice centered in Wynwood, Little River, Midtown, the Design District, Brickell, Coconut Grove, and Miami Beach.
While retail leasing remains the foundation of her practice, Bernardita's experience spans every stage of a neighborhood's evolution. Her career has closely mirrored the transformation of Miami's urban core—from leasing industrial and warehouse properties during Wynwood's early redevelopment, to creative office leasing as the neighborhood emerged as a hub for technology and entrepreneurship, to land transactions supporting mixed-use development, and today, helping curate the retail and hospitality environments that define some of South Florida's most vibrant communities.
Bernardita joined Metro 1 in 2014 after recognizing the firm's pioneering vision of shaping neighborhoods through strategic real estate. Over the past decade, she has worked alongside property owners, developers, investors, and entrepreneurs to help guide the evolution of Miami's most dynamic urban districts. Rather than specializing in a single asset class, Bernardita specializes in neighborhoods, believing that successful places are created by bringing together the right mix of retailers, restaurants, hospitality concepts, office users, entrepreneurs, and public spaces.
Today, much of her work is focused on Little River, where Metro 1 has played an active role since the neighborhood's earliest stages of redevelopment. She has been involved in leasing many of the district's formative retail spaces and continues to advise ownership on tenant curation and long-term leasing strategy as the neighborhood evolves into one of Miami's most exciting mixed-use communities. As part of that work, she remains actively involved with the Magic City Innovation District, collaborating with ownership and development teams on acquisitions, strategic leasing, tenant curation, rent stabilization, and the long-term evolution of one of South Florida's most ambitious placemaking projects.
Throughout her career, Bernardita has been involved in landmark office, retail, land, and mixed-use transactions that have helped shape Miami's urban core. Her work ranges from representing independent restaurateurs and emerging brands to advising institutional developers and long-term property owners through multiple phases of acquisition, leasing, stabilization, and redevelopment.
Known for her proactive approach to business development and tenant curation, Bernardita has built a network that extends well beyond commercial real estate, cultivating relationships with developers, restaurateurs, retailers, hospitality operators, entrepreneurs, and emerging brands. She is constantly identifying concepts ready for expansion and connecting them with neighborhoods where they can thrive, believing that successful placemaking begins long before a vacancy reaches the market.
Before entering commercial real estate, Bernardita began her career in boutique hospitality, managing Home Hotel in Palermo Hollywood, Buenos Aires' renowned creative district. Working in operations, marketing, public relations, VIP experiences, and special events gave her an appreciation for authentic hospitality, thoughtful curation, and the role independent businesses play in creating memorable neighborhoods—principles that continue to influence her approach to commercial real estate today.
As Metro 1 continues to expand its urban platform, Bernardita has developed a growing practice between Miami and New York, cultivating relationships with retailers, hospitality operators, developers, and investors in both markets. Currently pursuing her New York real estate license, she is building a platform that supports clients expanding between South Florida and New York while continuing to serve Metro 1's landlord and developer partners throughout Miami.
Bernardita earned her degree in Tourism and Hospitality Management from Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires. Her passion for placemaking, hospitality, and neighborhood curation continues to shape the way she advises clients and approaches every assignment, helping create vibrant mixed-use neighborhoods where creativity, hospitality, entrepreneurship, art, and commerce collide.
