Newmark Knight Frank’s New Jersey headquarters in Rutherford — Courtesy: Newmark Knight Frank
By Joshua Burd
A team led by two of the state’s top capital markets brokers has joined Newmark Knight Frank, providing a powerful addition to the firm’s investment sales platform in northern New Jersey.
The real estate services firm on Tuesday announced the hiring of Kevin Welsh as executive managing director and Brian Schulz as managing director, along with Chuck Kohaut as associate, Jason Emrani as financial analyst and Maria Betancourt as transaction manager. The team, which comes from CBRE Group Inc., will be based in NKF’s Rutherford office but will service the entire suburban tristate area.
“We are excited about the opportunity to expand our rapidly growing capital markets presence throughout the country,” Robert Griffin, U.S. head of NKF Capital Markets, said in a prepared statement. “This will create an additional foundation to strategically grow a single capital markets platform across product types and markets to consistently serve clients when and where they see opportunities.”
The Welsh and Schulz team have been involved some of the state’s most high-profile investment sales in recent years. Last year, they helped broker the $174.5 million sale of 80 Park Plaza, a 973,000-square-foot office building serving as Public Service Enterprise Group’s headquarters, and the $165 million trade of the 337,500-square-foot office building housing Panasonic North America’s headquarters, both in Newark.
For Newmark Knight Frank, which has reportedly dropped “Grubb” from its name, the news comes five months after a set of hires that bolstered another key service line in New Jersey. The firm in December announced the addition of industry veteran Brian Tobiasz and his project management team.
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“These are exciting times for the growth of NKF Capital Markets in New Jersey,” said David Simson, vice chairman and chief operating officer for the New Jersey operation. “In the last six months, we completed the strategic hiring of powerful capital markets and project management groups, and now are fully integrating the new capital markets team with players who have been leaders in New Jersey for the past decade.
“This will substantially increase our market share and add a new resource to our already outstanding leasing professionals, reinforcing our ability to provide comprehensive and integrated services to accommodate all of our clients’ needs.”
Other recent investment sales involving Welsh and Schulz include the $136 million sale of Warren Corporate Center, an 820,000-square-foot office campus in Warren, and the $49.5 million sale of 200 Milik Street, a 232,134-square-foot distribution center for in Carteret.
