News

Bob Knakal and Paul Massey will be speaking at the 2010 NYC Real Estate Expo.

The event will be held on Friday, November 5th from 9am-5pm at the Marriott Marquis – Times Square.

Tickets can be purchased here

For more information visit www.NYCRealEstateExpo.com

Agents: Paul Massey Jr., Robert Knakal

Massey Knakal Realty Services would like to cordially invite you to attend the upcoming Massey Knakal Multifamily Summit on September 21. The Summit is an exclusive gathering of active multifamily investors, building owners, developers and managers to network and exchange ideas on topics such as:

- State and near future of the New York Tri-State Multifamily Market
- Investing and Acquisitions
- Managing and Operating
- Development and Conversions
- Multifamily Financing
- Marketing and Leasing
- Rent Stabilization and Politics of Tenant-Backed Legislation
- Mixed Use and Retail units
- Affordable Housing

This is a high-quality event, including prominent multifamily developers and owners such as Gary Barnett, President of Extell Development, Richard Mack, CEO of Area Property Partners, Ofer Yardeni, Managing Principal of Stonehenge Partners and more. Over 40 speakers and a full day of information, networking, and deal making awaits you.

For more information on this event please visit http://greenpearlevents.com/mkms

On Wednesday July 21, Massey Knakal Realty Services and The American Institute of Architecture’s New York City chapter presented a seminar entitled Understanding and Applying Real Estate Data.  This focused, two-hour presentation gave both a detailed overview and a concise framework for understanding the overall dynamics and the current and specific status of the Manhattan Real Estate Market for the first half of 2010.  The lecture, a part of the ongoing Not Business As Usual series (NBAU), was held at the Center for Architecture and was targeted towards chapter members, local design professionals and interested stakeholders in the New York City Architecture/Engineering/Construction community.

Massey Knakal Partner James P. Nelson presented a comprehensive data set on residential, retail, and commercial property, describing the mix of existing building stock and the performance of the various asset classes, including historical and current leasing and sales trends, transaction volume and pricing, both by building type and by location.  Beyond presenting the objective facts and statistics, the program was intended to offer insight into existing and upcoming business development opportunities for the design community in the New York City Metropolitan area.

“This is exactly the kind of information AIA members need right now to help decipher upcoming demand in the marketplace for architectural services,” said Nancy Kleppel, Associate AIA member and Principal of Nancy Kleppel Consulting.  “It’s a matter of connecting the dots leading to specific upcoming project opportunities. A good understanding of the Manhattan real estate market provides a great deal of useful information.”

While optimistic stories and positive business trends for architecture and construction have been few and far between for the past 18 months, Mr. Nelson presented evidence that transaction volume is expanding.  This coupled with upcoming changes in tax law may provide significant increased momentum for sales transactions, thus leading to a corresponding uptick in business opportunities for advisory and design services.  Potential opportunities could include resumption of stalled projects; increased development of facilities for non-profit organizations, especially schools; affordable housing development and an increase in demand for high-end single-family home design and renovation projects.  According to the speaker, advisory services for cost saving measures and sustainability may also be in greater demand.

For more information - click here:
Press Release
NBAU
Nancy Kleppel

Agents: James Nelson

Massey Knakal Realty Services, NYC’s number one building sales firm, and GreenPearl Events, the rapidly growing real estate conference company, are pleased to announce that Massey Knakal will be the title sponsor for this year’s Multifamily Investment Summit – now entitled the “Massey Knakal Multifamily Summit” – the nation’s new and innovative conference for multifamily investors, owners, developers, brokers, lenders, property managers, real estate executives and service providers.

In 2009, over 375 attended the inaugural Multifamily Investment Summit.  This September, GreenPearl Events is bringing it back even bigger and better than last year with leadership from Massey Knakal, which is lending both its brand power and access to large numbers of multifamily investors and owners.

Robert Knakal, Chairman and Founding Partner of Massey Knakal, will chair this year’s event. Mr. Knakal has brokered the sale of over 1,050 properties in his career having an aggregate market value in excess of $6.2 billion.

“GreenPearl Events organizes many of the best conferences I have ever attended,” said Knakal. “I was a speaker at a GreenPearl event and met some people which resulted in my being retained to assist with the sale of a 25 building portfolio.  It is a pleasure for us to combine forces to create a multifamily conference of the highest quality.”

The multifamily real estate industry will gather in New York City on September 21, 2010 at the McGraw Hill Conference Center at 1221 Avenue of the Americas. It is a full day event with 40+ highly respected speakers, including the area’s top multifamily investors, owners and developers.

“Massey Knakal is synonymous with NYC multifamily buildings sales,” stated Ryan Slack, CEO, GreenPearl Events. “We couldn’t think of a better firm to work with on this conference.  Working with Massey Knakal validates our vision for GreenPearl Events, which is to produce the highest quality events where new relationships are forged and deals get done.”

The timing couldn’t be better, as the multifamily sector heats up and more transactions are getting done.  Investors, owners, and managers are eager to reignite relationships, make new contacts, and learn about the latest trends in multifamily investing, finance, sales, and management.

For more information on this event please visit http://greenpearlevents.com/mkms

Agents: Robert Knakal

Bob Knakal will be speaking to Brian Sullivan on Fox Business Network TODAY from 1:00 -1:30pm. Check it out!

Agents: Robert Knakal

Massey Knakal Realty Services, NYC’s #1 building sales firm, is pleased to announce the release of their exclusive Mid-Year Property Sales Reports. These unique, industry-leading, reports provides a comprehensive study of the investment sales market by product type in the entire New York City area (Manhattan, Northern Manhattan/Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens).

“Investment activity has increased dramatically from this time last year and based on the last six (6) quarters of data, we can now point to the bottom of the market from an activity perspective,” said Massey Knakal Chairman and Founding Partner Robert A. Knakal. “It is now clear that the summer of 2009 will be known as the bottom of sales activity, however, pricing varies from property type and borough,” added Knakal.

The total number of properties sold citywide through mid-year was 818, up an impressive 24% from the 774 properties sold in the first half of 2009. The 2Q10 number of 449 properties sold was up 22 % from the 369 total properties sold in the first quarter of 2010. Mid-year activity also remained 70% below the 2,738 sales occurring in the first half of 2007, which was the peak of market activity.

Within the different market segments Massey Knakal tracks, Manhattan continues to be the best performing thus far in 2010. The 230 properties sold (occurring south of 96th Street on the east side and south of 110th Street on the west side) represent an 87% increase from the comparable period in 2009, but a 61% decrease from the first half of 2007, the most active half year. The borough with the least activity was the Bronx in which there were only 92 properties sold in the first half of 2010, down 15% from mid-year 2009 and down 76% from the most active half year in 2007.

For dollar volume, the best performing area was Northern Manhattan which saw a 180% increase in activity from mid-year 2009 and a 51% increase from 1Q10. The Bronx was the weakest performer with $192,487,204 million of sales in mid-year 2010, down 4% from mid-year 2009 but still up 78% in 1Q10.

For highlights from each report, click here

Agents: Robert Knakal

Massey Knakal Realty Services is pleased to announce the closing of their 100th transaction of 2010 A warehouse building at 195 Bay 19th Street located between Bath and Cropsey Avenues in Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst neighborhood was sold in an all cash transaction valued at $2,700,000.

The subject property consists of a lot approximately 10,483 square feet with two connected warehouse buildings totaling approximately 29,000 square feet. The front building, comprised of office space and storage, is connected to the rear building, which is storage/warehouse space. There is one freight elevator servicing both buildings. The sale prices equates to approximately $93.00 per square foot.

Massey Knakal Realty Services, NYC’s #1 building sales firm, was the sole broker in this transaction.

Click here for press release

Neighborhoods: Bensonhurst/ Agents: Jeffrey Shalom, Kenneth Krasnow

Massey Knakal Realty Services is pleased to announce that three of their agents have been awarded the CoStar Powerbroker award.  Robert Knakal, Thomas Donovan, and Stephen Palmese were among those honored with this prestigious award.

Mr. Knakal, Chairman and Founding Partner of Massey Knakal Realty Services, has brokered the sale of nearly 1,075 properties having an aggregate market value in excess of $6.3 billion. Mr. Knakal’s professional accomplishments include twice winning the Robert T. Lawrence Award in REBNY’s Most Ingenious Deal of the Year contest. In 2008, he was named one of the top 10 investment sales brokers in the United States by Real Estate Forum magazine. In 2010, Mr. Knakal, along with CEO, Paul Massey, were included on The New York Observer’s list of the Top 100 Most Powerful Individuals in New York Real Estate for the second year in a row. Mr. Knakal and Mr. Massey have led their firm to their #1 ranking for the eighth consecutive year on CoStar’s list of Top Brokerage Firms for NYC Commercial Property Sales.

Mr. Donovan joined Massey Knakal in 1998 to head up the firm's first full-service outer borough office. The office, which opened in February 1999, has gone from a two-person startup to a flourishing establishment more than 10 times its original size. In 2005, Mr. Donovan was named to the Crain's New York Business' 40 Under 40 list for his outstanding achievement in the New York City business community. In 2009, Mr. Donovan was named Massey Knakal’s Top Salesperson of the Year in Queens and second place overall company-wide. This is the second year in a row that CoStar named Mr. Donovan a Top Sales Broker for Queens/Long Island.

Mr. Palmese, a Brooklyn native, joined Massey Knakal in August 2004 covering the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn. In October 2008, he was promoted to First Vice President of Sales for Downtown Brooklyn.  In 2009, Mr. Palmese handled the largest apartment building and development site transactions to take place in Brooklyn. After a successful year, Mr. Palmese was named Top Salesperson of the Year in Massey Knakal’s Brooklyn office. In his career, Mr. Palmese has sold over 50 properties with an aggregate consideration of nearly $225,000,000.

Click here for press release

Agents: Paul Massey Jr., Robert Knakal, Stephen Palmese, Thomas Donovan

Massey Knakal Partner James Nelson now offers video tours for some of his Greenwich Village listings.  Click here to view the tours on his YouTube channel.

Neighborhoods: Greenwich Village/ Agents: James Nelson

Massey Knakal Realty Services is pleased to announce their #1 ranking for the eighth consecutive year on CoStar’s list of Top Brokerage Firms for NYC Commercial Property Sales. In 2009, Massey Knakal handled over 150 transactions totaling over 600 million dollars. Based on number of transactions in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx, Massey Knakal closed three times as many transactions as its nearest competitor.

“We are extremely optimistic about 2010 and beyond because by increasing an already significant market share we are poised to assist sellers in our ‘sweet spot’ of the market,” said Massey Knakal’s CEO Paul J. Massey Jr.  “The highest velocity and liquidity continues to be in the multifamily and mixed-use sector,” added Massey.

Several notable transactions completed by Massey Knakal are:
Ten walk-up apartment buildings referred to as “The NYC Realty Corp. Portfolio” in Manhattan were sold in an all cash transaction valued at $29,000,000. Massey Knakal was exclusively retained by the seller just six weeks prior to closing. Combined, the properties contain approximately 87,707 square feet including 89 residential apartments, eight retail stores, three commercial units, and a rooftop antenna.

A nine-building, 229-unit affordable housing portfolio and associated ground-level retail in East Harlem were sold to an affiliate of Pacific Housing Advisors.  The portfolio sold in an all cash transaction valued at $26,900,000.  The buildings are known as Met Paca I and Met Paca II and operate under a Section 8 rent subsidy contract with HUD.  

The 142-year-old landmarked property at 901 Broadway located in Manhattan’s Flatiron District was sold in an all cash transaction valued at $24,600,000. The five-story, 14,336 square foot building, which was the original home of the Lord & Taylor Dry Goods Store, traded for $1,716 per square foot at a 5.6% cap rate. The property was sold to a Spanish investor. In October 2006, the property was sold by Massey Knakal to Thor Equities for $17,375,000.

“Our 50 agents have put the Massey Knakal competitive advantage to work for our clients all over the Metro New York area,” explained Mr. Massey. “Only representing sellers has made us an easy choice especially for banks and other lending institutions (new players in the market) who demand client loyalty. The Massey Knakal Territory System™ has also allowed us to underwrite and execute dispositions as a single source provider in every New York/New Jersey neighborhood and submarket,” he added.

Massey Knakal is the publisher of the Quarterly Property Sales Report, the recognized source for all New York Metro detailed investment sales data.  

Click here for press release

Agents: Paul Massey Jr.

A sense of optimism has begun to return to the New York City real estate investment property market as transactional activity has been steadily rising quarter by quarter. Although this overall trend is being felt in neighborhoods all over the city, nowhere is this more prevalent than in
Northern Manhattan (East & West Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood). With over $116,000,000 in sales consisting of 35 transactions in the first quarter of 2010, it is clear that Northern Manhattan is experiencing one of the sharpest rebounds in activity.

With strong fundamentals in place, it is likely that the upward trend is sustainable for the foreseeable future. These neighborhood specific attributes have led to a 197% increase in aggregate sales dollar volume from Q1 2009 to Q1 2010. Granted, that increase is in comparison
to all time lows and is still down 80% from its highs in Q1 2006. However, no other market in New York City has seen an increase anywhere close to those levels. It is clear that investors are choosing to deploy capital in Northern Manhattan today because they can buy improved assets that still possess significant upside.

Click here to view Rob Shapiro's article.

Neighborhoods: Washington Heights/ Agents: Robert Shapiro

Massey Knakal Realty Services, NYC’s number one building sales firm, and GreenPearl Events, the rapidly growing real estate conference company, are pleased to announce that Massey Knakal will be the title sponsor for this year’s Multifamily Investment Summit – now entitled the “Massey Knakal Multifamily Summit” – the nation’s new and innovative conference for multifamily investors, owners, developers, brokers, lenders, property managers, real estate executives and service providers.

In 2009, over 375 attended the inaugural Multifamily Investment Summit. This September, GreenPearl Events is bringing it back even bigger and better than last year with leadership from Massey Knakal, which is lending both its brand power and access to large numbers of multifamily investors and owners.

Robert Knakal, Chairman and Founding Partner of Massey Knakal, will chair this year’s event. Mr. Knakal has brokered the sale of over 1,050 properties in his career having an aggregate market value in excess of $6.2 billion.

“GreenPearl Events organizes many of the best conferences I have ever attended,” said Knakal. “I was a speaker at a GreenPearl event and met some people which resulted in my being retained to assist with the sale of a 25 building portfolio. It is a pleasure for us to combine forces to create a multifamily conference of the highest quality.”

The multifamily real estate industry will gather in New York City on September 21, 2010 at the McGraw Hill Conference Center at 1221 Avenue of the Americas. It is a full day event with 40+ highly respected speakers, including the area’s top multifamily investors, owners and developers.

“Massey Knakal is synonymous with NYC multifamily buildings sales,” stated Ryan Slack, CEO, GreenPearl Events. “We couldn’t think of a better firm to work with on this conference. Working with Massey Knakal validates our vision for GreenPearl Events, which is to produce the highest quality events where new relationships are forged and deals get done.”

The timing couldn’t be better, as the multifamily sector heats up and more transactions are getting done. Investors, owners, and managers are eager to reignite relationships, make new contacts, and learn about the latest trends in multifamily investing, finance, sales, and management.

For more information on this event please visit http://greenpearlevents.com/mkms

Click here for press release

Agents: Robert Knakal

Massey Knakal seeks a self motivated team player who has the ability to interact with and serve the needs of our top corporate / high net worth clients. Ideal candidate will come with prior knowledge of New Jersey and possess the desire to be successful in the Real Estate brokerage business. 

The position is based out of our Manhattan office and the person will work alongside Managing Director of our NJ Division, Landon McGaw.

As an Associate, individuals will be hands on in day-to-day brokerage activities including, but not limited to: dealing with clientele, performing analyses, studying market trends, creating neighborhood reports, speaking to / showing properties to potential investors, attending high level presentations, etc. He/she will learn the intricacies of the market, the industry, and how to effectively sell investment properties.

For more information, or to apply, click here.

Neighborhoods: New Jersey/ Agents: Landon McGaw

Massey Knakal Realty Services, NYC’s number one building sales firm, is now offering video tours and text messaging to promote select listings in Manhattan.

According to Kyle Mast, Managing Director of Manhattan, Massey Knakal recently created a YouTube channel for one of its partners, James Nelson, where property videos can be viewed.  While nothing replaces an actual site visit; it is proving to be helpful for a buyer to be able to preview a property or review it afterwards.

Given the strong demand from international investors, Massey Knakal is now able to show their product to clients around the globe. Massey Knakal’s website had visitors from 132 countries last year.

Separately, buyers can now text for property information from several of Massey Knakal’s “For Sale” signs. With a simple text, they will now receive pertinent information on the property directly to their cell phone.

“We are now exploring all avenues to provide even more exposure for our listings.  In a tech savvy world, we need to use every outlet to reach out to buyers from around the world,” added Mast.

Nelson’s team recently posted a virtual tour of 198 West 10th Street, a four-story Greek revival brownstone located in the heart of the West Village, which has already received a great response from the buying community. According to Nelson, “There have been over 80 views in just one week.”

For new video postings follow Massey Knakal on Twitter

Agents: James Nelson, Kyle Mast

Massey Knakal seeks top tier sales professional to join its new venture, our New Jersey division.

Ideal candidates are self motivated, disciplined, driven, and persistent. Assertive, goaloriented self-starters / entrepreneurs. Exhibiting a stellar track record of sales success is a plus; however, MK has top notch training to bring any determined player to the top of their game. Marketing and Sales oriented professionals seeking high pay/unlimited earning potential, top
corporate and high net worth client base, and professional, team atmosphere will thrive in a career selling New Jersey’s finest buildings.

To apply, or for more information, click here.

Having sold 22 properties in 2009 worth over $92,000,000, John Ciraulo has won Massey Knakal’s Gerald W. Bridges Award for company-wide Salesperson of the Year.

Mr. Ciraulo joined Massey Knakal in 1993 to expand the company’s territory system. Since then, he has built a strong presence in the Midtown South marketplace in neighborhoods including Murray Hill, Gramercy Park, and the Flatiron District. He has evaluated more than 1,500 buildings and closed in excess of 310 buildings with an aggregate value of more than $1 billion.

In 1998, he was named Partner and in 2006 Vice Chairman of Massey Knakal. Mr. Ciraulo’s role in Massey Knakal’s Executive Committee and his exemplary efforts over the years made a significant impact on the way the company has done business. His lead-by-example style has
resonated throughout the company.

Mr. Ciraulo began his real estate career as a commercial office leasing broker. He has specialized in the Midtown South marketplace since 1990 and continues to hone his skills in this area, continuously earning him recognition. He was named Top Salesperson of the firm numerous
times and was also a multiple recipient of Massey Knakal’s Louis Brause Award for Outstanding Business Development and Goodwill Promotion.

John and his dedicated team, Craig Waggner and Mike Azarian, work closely together and support each other to grow their business and service their clients.

Mr. Ciraulo’s most notable transaction in 2009 was the “The NYC Realty Corp. Portfolio” a 10 walk-up apartment building portfolio in Manhattan which sold for $29,000,000 in just six weeks. Combined, the properties contain 87,707 square feet including 89 residential apartments, eight retail stores, three commercial units, and a rooftop antenna.

In addition to his work in the office, John is a devoted husband and father. He has been married to his wife Kathy for 18 years and has three children, Jack, Olivia and Nicholas.

Congratulations John!

Agents: John Ciraulo

An Associate assists in the day-to-day brokerage activities. This position entails all types of brokerage support including, but not limited to, doing feasibility analyses, studying market trends, obtaining data at government agencies, taking photographs of buildings, coordinating, etc. Qualified candidates have previously demonstrated ability in sales, have held leadership roles and/or have excellence in team-oriented activities.

To apply, or for more information, click here.

The Director of Research will lead the effort of further enhancing MKRS’ data, differentiating the firm from the rest of the market. This individual will be accountable for collecting, tracking and analyzing all aspects of the commercial real estate market including our internal sales statistics.

To apply, or for more information, click here.

In a Manhattan property sales market where there were 63% less transactions in the first quarter of 2010, compared to the same quarter in 2007, how is it possible to accurately value a property?

Click here for full article.

Agents: James Nelson

Bob will be on CityWide - CUNY TV's dynamic talk show for New Yorkers who care deeply about our city. The program is hosted by former City Council member Ken Fisher. On this edition, Bob discusses how the real estate sector of the NYC economy has responded to the recession and signs that the recovery phase is underway. Click here for more information.

The program will air:
Wednesday April 21st at 10am, 3pm, 11pm
Saturday April 24th at 8 pm
Sunday April 25th at 10am

CUNY TV can be viewed on most cable systems in the New York metropolitan area on Channel 75. In addition, many of the programs can be viewed online at http://www.cuny.tv/

Agents: Robert Knakal