{"id":1004708766,"date":"2024-04-03T02:04:07","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T10:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004708766"},"modified":"2024-04-03T05:43:40","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T13:43:40","slug":"veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/","title":{"rendered":"Veteran Broker Bob Knakal Opens AI-Focused Shop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" data-attachment-id=\"1004708792\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/bob-knakal-bk-real-estate-advisors-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/04\/Bob-Knakal-BK-Real-Estate-Advisors-edited.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"800,600\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Bob-Knakal-BK-Real-Estate-Advisors\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/04\/Bob-Knakal-BK-Real-Estate-Advisors-edited.jpg?w=800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/04\/Bob-Knakal-BK-Real-Estate-Advisors-edited.jpg\" alt=\"Bob Knakal, Chairman &amp; CEO, BK Real Estate Advisors\" class=\"wp-image-1004708792\" style=\"width:400px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/04\/Bob-Knakal-BK-Real-Estate-Advisors-edited.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/04\/Bob-Knakal-BK-Real-Estate-Advisors-edited.jpg?resize=300,225 300w, https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/04\/Bob-Knakal-BK-Real-Estate-Advisors-edited.jpg?resize=768,576 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Bob Knakal, Chairman &amp; CEO, BK Real Estate Advisors. <em>Image courtesy of BK Real Estate Advisors<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Veteran New York City broker Bob Knakal is embracing both his entrepreneurial spirit and the growing importance of artificial intelligence in commercial real estate with the launch of a new boutique brokerage firm, BK Real Estate Advisors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The formation of the new company comes less than two months after Knakal was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/bob-knakal-terminated-from-jll\/\">let go as a senior managing director from JLL<\/a> following a <em>New York Times<\/em> profile that reportedly ruffled feathers because it focused mainly on the broker\u2019s 40-year professional history and not enough on the firm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Knakal had led the JLL New York Private Capital Group since 2018. He had previously served as chairman of New York investment sales at Cushman &amp; Wakefield, but his contract was terminated shortly before its due date. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He had joined Cushman &amp; Wakefield\u00a0in 2014, following the firm&#8217;s acquisition of Massey Knakal Realty Services. Knakal and Paul Massey had founded the New York City boutique brokerage, known for midsize office, retail and apartment building sales, in 1988.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>READ ALSO:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/ai-is-a-silver-lining-for-the-office-market\/\">AI Is a Silver Lining for the Office Market<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Knakal, who started his commercial real estate career at CB Richard Ellis in 1984, has arranged more than $21 billion in sales, closed more than 6,000 transactions and brokered the sale of more than 2,300 properties in New York City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Making the announcement about BKREA from his famous Manhattan \u201cmap room\u201d on social media Tuesday morning, Knakal said he had many meetings and offers to collaborate in the weeks after leaving JLL. He thanked those who had reached out to him but said his entrepreneurial spirit had been reawakened and felt it was time to \u201ccreate a new company for a new age.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-combining-ai-and-analog\">Combining AI and analog<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>BKREA will focus on the capital markets landscape through investment sales, debt and equity while integrating AI technologies to interpret data in many new ways and streamline the transaction processes. Pointing to the walls and table covered with maps detailing every block in Manhattan and properties for sale, Knakal said the firm will continue to use its \u201cvalued analog methods\u201d like those on display in the room for mapping and data collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cReflecting on how the world had transformed since I began my journey in 1984, without a computer, fax machine or cell phone, I\u2019m convinced that the next five years will bring about even more dramatic changes, especially with advancements in AI,\u201d Knakal said in the video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Knakal is the new firm\u2019s chairman &amp; CEO. Seth Samowitz has been tapped as BKREA\u2019s Chief Operating Officer, who will focus on the operational and technology aspects of the business and land sales in New York City. A former technology executive, Samowitz has been working in real estate and artificial intelligence for more than five years as a licensed broker &amp; founder of Vosa AI, a startup aimed at automating real estate prospecting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>BKREA has also formed the Knakal Affiliate Program, or KAP, a group that will facilitate referrals and collaborations between brokers and firms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The new firm will use the new technologies as well as old-school tools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1068,"featured_media":1004708792,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21784,1600,21742,10],"tags":[32799,32796],"class_list":["post-1004708766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brokerage","category-new-york","category-latest","category-northeast","tag-cushman-wakefield","tag-jll"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.4 (Yoast SEO v24.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Veteran Broker Bob Knakal Opens AI-Focused Shop - Commercial Property Executive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Veteran New York City broker Bob Knakal has launched a new boutique brokerage firm, BK Real Estate Advisors.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Veteran Broker Bob Knakal Opens AI-Focused Shop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Veteran New York City broker Bob Knakal has launched a new boutique brokerage firm, BK Real Estate Advisors.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Property Executive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-03T10:04:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-03T13:43:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/04\/Bob-Knakal-BK-Real-Estate-Advisors-edited.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gail Kalinoski\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/\",\"name\":\"Veteran Broker Bob Knakal Opens AI-Focused Shop - Commercial Property Executive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/04\/Bob-Knakal-BK-Real-Estate-Advisors-edited.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-03T10:04:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-03T13:43:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/fc5b5df1393e5023d2417bd48c2fda57\"},\"description\":\"Veteran New York City broker Bob Knakal has launched a new boutique brokerage firm, BK Real Estate Advisors.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/04\/Bob-Knakal-BK-Real-Estate-Advisors-edited.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/04\/Bob-Knakal-BK-Real-Estate-Advisors-edited.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Veteran Broker Bob Knakal Opens AI-Focused Shop\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Commercial Property Executive\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/fc5b5df1393e5023d2417bd48c2fda57\",\"name\":\"Gail Kalinoski\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/04\/Gail-Kalinoski-headshot.jpeg?w=86\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/04\/Gail-Kalinoski-headshot.jpeg?w=86\",\"caption\":\"Gail Kalinoski\"},\"description\":\"Kalinoski has been a contributing writer to Commercial Property Executive and Multi-Housing News since 2010 and previously wrote for three years for Commercial Property News. Gail has been a freelance writer and editor for more than 20 years, contributing to daily websites, magazines, weekly business newspapers, market intelligence newsletters, research reports, monthly B-to-B and consumer magazines. Earlier in her career, Gail worked for Gannett Corp. as an editor and reporter for 15 years. Gail has a bachelor\u2019s degree in journalism from Pace University.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/author\/gail-kalinoski\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Veteran Broker Bob Knakal Opens AI-Focused Shop - Commercial Property Executive","description":"Veteran New York City broker Bob Knakal has launched a new boutique brokerage firm, BK Real Estate Advisors.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Veteran Broker Bob Knakal Opens AI-Focused Shop","og_description":"Veteran New York City broker Bob Knakal has launched a new boutique brokerage firm, BK Real Estate Advisors.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/","og_site_name":"Commercial Property Executive","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive","article_published_time":"2024-04-03T10:04:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-04-03T13:43:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/04\/Bob-Knakal-BK-Real-Estate-Advisors-edited.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gail Kalinoski","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cpexecutive","twitter_site":"@cpexecutive","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/","name":"Veteran Broker Bob Knakal Opens AI-Focused Shop - Commercial Property Executive","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/04\/Bob-Knakal-BK-Real-Estate-Advisors-edited.jpg","datePublished":"2024-04-03T10:04:07+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-03T13:43:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/fc5b5df1393e5023d2417bd48c2fda57"},"description":"Veteran New York City broker Bob Knakal has launched a new boutique brokerage firm, BK Real Estate Advisors.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/04\/Bob-Knakal-BK-Real-Estate-Advisors-edited.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/04\/Bob-Knakal-BK-Real-Estate-Advisors-edited.jpg","width":800,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/veteran-bob-knakal-forms-ai-focused-firm\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Veteran Broker Bob Knakal Opens AI-Focused Shop"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/","name":"Commercial Property Executive","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/fc5b5df1393e5023d2417bd48c2fda57","name":"Gail Kalinoski","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/04\/Gail-Kalinoski-headshot.jpeg?w=86","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/04\/Gail-Kalinoski-headshot.jpeg?w=86","caption":"Gail Kalinoski"},"description":"Kalinoski has been a contributing writer to Commercial Property Executive and Multi-Housing News since 2010 and previously wrote for three years for Commercial Property News. Gail has been a freelance writer and editor for more than 20 years, contributing to daily websites, magazines, weekly business newspapers, market intelligence newsletters, research reports, monthly B-to-B and consumer magazines. Earlier in her career, Gail worked for Gannett Corp. as an editor and reporter for 15 years. Gail has a bachelor\u2019s degree in journalism from Pace University.","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/author\/gail-kalinoski\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/04\/Bob-Knakal-BK-Real-Estate-Advisors-edited.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004708766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1068"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1004708766"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004708766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1004708915,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004708766\/revisions\/1004708915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1004708792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1004708766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1004708766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1004708766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}