Bob Knakal’s 10 Reasons Why He Did the Cushman Deal

Following a New Year’s Eve sale of Massey Knakal Realty Services to Cushman & Wakefield (CWK), Robert Knakal shares his top 10 reasons why C&W made the most sense for him and co-founder Paul Massey:

1. It was better for our clients. By aligning ourselves with a full service, global commercial real estate advisory firm, we can offer greater services and secure a greater number of buyers and users for our client’s assets. Simply put, we can now deliver the highest level of service and superior results for our clients.
2. It was better for our people. By aligning ourselves with C&W, all our agents and associates have enhanced tool sets, or simply more arrows in their respective quivers to help them succeed.
3. Time for a Change. Paul and I celebrated our 26th anniversary last year.  We have grown from two to over 100 professional investment advisers and have become the premier investment advisory firm in the market. We have always looked for new challenges, and this strategic growth opportunity will be completely new for us—it’s quite exciting.
4. Expansion of our proven approach and model. The C&W team recognized the power and benefits of our territory system and will explore continuing to utilize this platform moving forward.
5. Aligning with C&W will allow us to offer this continuity of client specific-owner specific service.
6. Great opportunity for cross selling. After we started our retail leasing and mortgage brokerage divisions, we quickly observed the power of cross-selling services. With C&W, we can offer every service imaginable to our clients.
7. I get to stay focused on what I do. Knowing Paul will continue to manage, and our people will continue to service their clients, I will be allowed to not only continue to focus on brokering, but will also continue to grow. I still love what I do and don’t see any scenario under which I am not brokering for the very long-term.
8. In 2014, I personally secured several “high dollar” listings that many once considered outside of Massey Knakal’s abilities. We closed those “bigger deals” with the same high level of client engagement and same expectation exceeding results for our clients. C&W should provide a platform where I can continue to work on these “bigger deals,” while still working with the owners I have represented for the past 31 years.
9. It was time for my team to grow. Not only in personnel—we are now up to 14 team members, but also in terms of volume. In 2012, my team and I facilitated over $1 billion in asset sales. In 2014, we sold 145 properties having a market value of approximately $2.2 billion. Many of those on my team are becoming more mature in the business and as a team we all want to continue to grow.
10. Increasing market share. Our platform and approach has earned us the position of top selling commercial brokerage house in New York in terms of number of properties sold for the last 14 years. We believe we can expand this market share by working with C&W.