A new real estate franchise with a luxury global brand opened shop last week in downtown Vashon, but its owners, islanders Nicole Donnelly Martin and Linda and Dick Bianchi, said they will bring a decades-deep knowledge of the island and a strong commitment to the local community to their operation.

Their new venture, Vashon Island Sotheby’s International Realty, is located at 17635 Vashon Hwy. S.W. — the former home of an origami art gallery, Island Paper Chase, operated by local artist Alice Larson.

Donnelly Martin and Linda Bianchi, in an interview in the newly decorated office on Thursday, Dec. 15, said that they had secured a long-term lease of the space from the building’s owner, Mike McConnell, with an option to purchase the building, which they are not pursuing at this time but might consider in the future.

The Bianchis have long been key players in Vashon’s small but intense real estate community. The couple, who have lived on Vashon since 1983, owned Winderemere Vashon from 1997 to 2011, before selling it to its current owners, Beth and John de Groen.

After the sale, Linda Bianchi continued to work as a Windermere agent and has partnered for the past few years with Donnelly Martin — who grew up on Vashon as a third-generation islander. Together, they’ve become a top-selling duo, representing some of the highest price sales on the island.

Both women also have leadership roles in local causes and charities that include, for Linda, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and Rotary International. Currently, Donnelly Martin is the vice president of the Vashon Schools Foundation.

These organizations and other worthy island causes, the pair said, would receive a minimum of 1% of their new business’s profits annually — a continuation of strong practices by other local realtors to give back to the community.

Their decision to open their own boutique operation and part ways with Windermere, they said, was purely a business decision, springing from an unexpected opportunity to acquire their own independent franchise of the Sotheby’s brand.

Sotheby’s, they said, had already been planning to add a Vashon office, with off-island ownership by Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty, LLC — a Seattle-based company whose listings currently include the $11 million Vashon home of the late businessman Tom Stewart, located on Misty Isle Farms.

But when a division of the Realogics Sotheby’s business put a hold on its plans to open an office on Vashon, Linda and Donnelly Martin said, they seized the chance to secure local ownership of the franchise and “keep sales dollars on the island.”

The owner of John L. Scott, Ken Zaglin, offered congratulations to the Bianchis and Donnelly Martin.

“My only feeling is to wish them success,” he said, adding that since the number of real estate agents on Vashon hadn’t changed, he didn’t think the new brokerage would dramatically affect the amount of competition in Vashon’s real estate community. “It’s always good for people to have choices. You always worry that people aren’t well represented but [the Bianchis and Donnelly Martin] are good human beings and agents and I wish them well.”

Vashon Island Sotheby’s operation — the first new real estate brokerage to open its own office on Vashon in decades — will stay small, said Donnelly Martin, but eventually they hope to add five or six experienced local agents to its fold.

The chance to open their own Sotheby’s franchise was “an opportunity we couldn’t pass up,” said Linda, who described her former Winderemere colleagues as “gracious and supportive” of the new venture.

“We’ll all continue to work together,” Donnelly Martin said.

According to the pair, they aim for their new business to capture some of the 35% market share — amounting to $127 million dollars in Vashon home sales — they said now goes to off-island brokers representing buyers on Vashon.

Sotheby’s international reach and marketing capabilities, said Donnelly Martin, would draw clients who had previously been represented by those off-island entities.

In recent years, Vashon’s real estate market has increasingly been sought out by high-end buyers.

“The luxury market on Vashon Island is seeing incredible growth,” said Philip White, president and CEO of Sotheby’s International Realty, in a press release about the opening of the franchise on Vashon. “The area has seen a significant increase year-over-year in the over $2 million-dollar market, according to local market records. It also possesses the most waterfront footage of any area in King County, making it ideal for those looking to be surrounded by the natural splendor of the Pacific Northwest.”

But despite the luxury brand and reach of Sotheby’s Real Estate, the Bianchis and Donnelly Martin say their real estate business will be there to serve clients at all price points on Vashon.

“Our first listing will be in the $600,000 price range,” said Donnelly Martin, adding that all of her office’s clients will receive luxury service, regardless of the prices of the homes they purchase or sell.

Their small boutique office, they said, will also have low overhead, allowing them to be more generous with the community as they weather ups and downs in the real estate market — which both Donnelly Martin and Linda expect to slow in 2023.

“We’ve always represented the full breadth and all of the market here,” said Donnelly Martin. “But now, we’re the first real estate office serving Vashon Island that has global brand recognition.”