Bob Knakal, the JLL investment sales broker who has recently been active on social media site LinkedIn and was profiled in Sunday’s New York Times, has left the global firm.
Knakal said Tuesday he left JLL. He declined to comment to CoStar News about his departure but offered to discuss his future at a later date. He hasn’t indicated that he’s settled on what he will do next, according to one close associate who’s worked with him for about a decade.
The executive who started selling investment properties in New York City 40 years ago worked at JLL for roughly the past six years and led its private capital group in the market.
Knakal’s first job in the industry was in 1984 at CBRE, then called CB Richard Ellis. It was there where he met Paul J. Massey Jr. Four years later, Massey and Knakal left CBRE and formed Massey Knakal Realty Services, where Knakal made his mark as chairman and founding partner.
Over the past couple of years, Knakal has raised his social media profile in commercial real estate circles as he leveraged channels to promote his business at JLL. He was a sought-after speaker who last fall delivered what attendees called a fireside chat with Cushman & Wakefield broker Ken Ashley at the Commercial Real Estate Influencers, or CREi, Summit in Orlando, Florida. Ashley is the founder of CREi.
On Sunday, he was profiled in a story in the New York Times under the headline, “This Real Estate Kingpin Maps Out the Path to Megadeals.” He uses his so-called map room in New York to plot out available properties.
Knakal has been responsible for deals in 2,252 buildings and over $21 billion in sales, “generally considered to be the highest total ever for a single broker in New York,” according to the summary on his LinkedIn profile.
After he left Massey Knakal in December 2014, Knakal joined Cushman & Wakefield, where he served as chairman of New York investment sales until he left in June 2018. He joined JLL three months later, in September 2018.
Last year, Knakal got attention for a marketing move in which he created a baseball card with his investment sales stats by year and sent them to more than 10,000 people. In November, he used it as a “bio” at a national conference he spoke at in Dallas before promoting it through social media.
Even with his success, Knakal signed up to be coached on how to become a broker who dominates a market by Rod Santomassimo, owner of Massimo Group. Santomassimo said Knakal took to the coaching and doubled his multimillion commission within two years.
Knakal is quick to embrace new technology and social media and is starting to use artificial intelligence, or AI, in his marketing efforts, Santomassimo said.
“Every Saturday morning Bob and I sit down … for an hour and just talk about the week and talk about the strategy,” Santomassimo said Monday. “We’re building something out and we’re always thinking about what’s next. I’m 60. He’s 61, which is kind of crazy. Here’s two old men doing AI.”