Bob Knakal

Bob Knakal spent the pandemic driving around desolate Manhattan streets with a Sanborn map in hand, marking the borough’s development with a color-coded system that would make any highlighter-enthusiast envious. Now, Knakal’s 27-foot-long map shows every property under construction — most potential development sites and potential assemblage sites.

“We have what, I think, is the most comprehensive database of the construction market in New York City that exists anywhere, and I know that because I physically inspected every one of those buildings,” Knakal said.

Knakal dedicated 220 hours to his mapping project last year, but still managed to close 11 transactions with a combined value of about $450 million.

His 2020 deals included $49 million for a historic Flatiron building at 56 West 22nd Street for Fifty Six Realty Corp.; $81 million for a Brooklyn development site of more than 380,000 buildable square feet at 98 Dekalb Avenue for the Kotler family; $61.5 million for a development site of more than 200,000 square feet at 29 Jay Street for the Forman Group; and $111 million for the waterfront development site of more than 134,000 square feet at 1 Java Street for JZ Capital Partners and RedSky Capital.

“We did four of the five largest development site sales in New York City,” Knakal said. “We’re in the process of not only selling sites today, but we’re helping developers find their equity. We’re using our debt brokers to get financing for those developers. It really has just exploded.”

Knakal also put together a study of sales of buildings to user groups — entities buying a building to occupy it with their own business — going back to 1984. He collected a spreadsheet of the 2,180 sales he’s made in his 36-year career. The only data he hasn’t digitized is his Sanborn map, which he often brings to clients’ offices.

When Knakal was first faced with the pandemic, he predicted brokers would leave the business; now, he says he’s seen it happen. But Knakal has an optimistic view of the future, predicting a much-higher transaction volume this year.—C.Y.