Inside Bob Knakal and Strip Mall Guy’s Big Social Media Gala
At the end of last month, commercial real estate deity Bob Knakal got together with the social media upstart known as “Strip Mall Guy” to host a gathering at Hudson Yards called Real Estate X Gala for the social media world to mingle.
A couple of months prior to the gala, Strip Mall Guy had been unmasked as Don Tepman, the president and founder of TownCentre Capital and University Avenue Partners, both of which, well, invest in strip malls. But Strip Mall Guy, with his 215,000 or so followers on Twitter — er, sorry, X — was a refreshingly honest and intelligent voice on the happenings in commercial real estate.
When he was revealed in a The Real Deal interview, Tepman’s stock in the industry only soared. His name became a lot more in demand. And one could see it in the crowd that turned out at Hudson Yards’ The Peak on April 25.
Not only were some of the active names in social media there, including representatives Adrian Carbone and Chris Bakke from X, but some big machers one would not quite expect, like New York Giant and apparent real estate social media fanatic Justin Pugh, or Burger King’s real estate gurus Isabel Murphy and Maria Torres.
Some came from down south, like Eric Weatherholtz of Atlanta’s Healey Weatherholtz Properties, and Kyle Matthews (donning a green tux) of Matthews Real Estate Investment Services in Nashville. DeLea Becker of Beck-Reit Commercial Real Estate came from the Lone Star State bearing cowboy hats, and apparently requests came from as far away as New Zealand. According to Knakal, some 5,000 people wanted tickets to the event, which had space for 200 (but it looked like more actually turned out).
After the red carpet and the carousing from high up in the sky, the head of Related Companies, Jeff Blau, came over from his office in the complex to address the gathering.
Apparently, Blau is a secret follower of Strip Mall Guy on X.
But Commercial Observer was on the ground and interviewing the industry celebs; you can watch our highlights here.
