When Forty Two Plus LLC, led by founder Jay Olshonsky, acquired Sperry to join its existing Sea Glass franchise, the company faced a challenge familiar to multi-brand operators: how to operate two distinct real estate franchises without creating brand confusion, internal competition, or operational inefficiency. Olshonsky, who serves as CEO of both Sea Glass and Sperry, says the solution lies in maintaining distinct brand identities while strategically sharing infrastructure when practical and cost-effective.
Olshonsky is clear that Forty Two Plus is not merging the brands into a single entity. Sea Glass and Sperry retain separate staff and marketing strategies and serve different markets—Sea Glass targets lifestyle-driven residential buyers in coastal and resort communities. At the same time, Sperry operates as a commercial real estate franchise outside the reach of major firms like CBRE, JLL, and Cushman & Wakefield.
“These are separate brands with separate identities and staffing,” Olshonsky says. However, he notes that some operational regions offer opportunities for efficiency. “Where we can share or where we can synergize, we will. There are areas in franchising where if you’re doing one, it’s just as easy to do two.”
Shared functions include legal and compliance work, as regulatory requirements for residential and commercial franchises are essentially the same. Where technology platforms overlap, Forty Two Plus can integrate systems to avoid duplication. Marketing and human resources are managed centrally, though each brand maintains its own messaging and recruitment strategies.
“We’re going to have one bank, one HR department, one marketing department, even though we’ll have different aspects on both ends,” Olshonsky says.
The leadership model at Forty Two Plus reflects this balance. Olshonsky is the CEO of both franchises, with his partner, Nick Van Assche, as co-owner. Each franchise, however, is run by its own president, who oversees daily operations and sets the brand’s strategic direction.
“We don’t have two CEOs for each of those, and we do believe in having separate presidents to run them,” Olshonsky explains. This approach prevents the CEO from becoming a bottleneck and allows each brand to develop its own culture and operational priorities. At the same time, unified ownership ensures both franchises move toward common long-term goals.
Technology is one area where Olshonsky sees clear benefits from operating both residential and commercial franchises. He points out that residential real estate has often been quicker to adopt consumer-facing technology platforms than the commercial sector. By sharing successful residential tools with Sperry, Forty Two Plus can accelerate innovation on the commercial side without starting from scratch.
“Where we can share residential things that have been going really well to the commercial side, we will,” Olshonsky says. This transfer of technology and processes enables operational improvements without undermining each brand’s unique strengths.
The underlying principle is to identify which business functions should remain customized for competitive advantage and which can be streamlined as shared services. Not every function is a candidate for consolidation, but duplicating administrative work where requirements are identical creates unnecessary overhead.
Maintaining two brands also supports a broader strategic goal: appealing to different market segments and franchisee types. Sea Glass and Sperry can each attract professionals who want to specialize in residential or commercial real estate, without forcing a choice or diluting the value proposition of either franchise.
“We want to be an alternative as people are looking, both residentially or commercially, to join something that’s new, fresh,” Olshonsky says. He notes that Sperry currently has 42 franchisees, while all Sea Glass offices have opened in the past 15 months, indicating distinct growth stages and target audiences.
Generational planning is another factor in the company’s approach. Olshonsky cites his partner, Banashi, 39, as evidence of a longer-term vision. “We’re building for the next 20 years, not for my next three or next five. We want to attract the next generation of real estate leaders to come work for us on both the commercial and residential sides,” he says.
Whether other real estate operators will adopt this dual-brand, shared-services model may depend on how well Forty Two Plus demonstrates that it can capture administrative efficiencies without sacrificing the distinct market positioning that separate brands offer. For now, the company’s approach illustrates one way to scale real estate franchise operations, leveraging shared infrastructure for efficiency while preserving the specialized appeal that attracts both clients and franchisees. This balance may become increasingly relevant as more operators seek growth without diluting their core strengths.
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