Adam Karafiol
By Joshua Burd
A key executive with Onyx Equities has returned to brokerage, joining JLL as an executive vice president with the firm’s New Jersey team.
Adam Karafiol, who brings more than 20 years of experience, is the latest hire by JLL aimed at helping grow its agency practice in the region. He most recently spent nearly a decade as a senior vice president of leasing with Onyx, where he represented the investment firm at some of its most significant properties in New Jersey.
He is now based in JLL’s East Rutherford office.
“Adam has a long track record of leasing some of the best assets in the market,” said Tim Greiner, broker lead for JLL’s New Jersey brokerage team. “He will leverage the deep tenant relationships he has developed at Onyx in a way that will help JLL continue its strategic growth in the region, with a focus on agency business in the Bergen County market.”
Karafiol’s role with Onyx, which owns and operates more than $2 billion worth of office, industrial, retail and residential space in the state, included leading the office leasing team at One, Two and Four Gateway Center in Newark. He also oversaw leasing of the firm’s 10 million-square-foot office portfolio throughout New Jersey and the tristate area.
Before Onyx, Karafiol worked with multiple New York City-based real estate owners and ran his own commercial real estate services firm.
“Adam has been a tremendous asset to Onyx Equities as the company has grown its footprint across the Northeast,” said John Saraceno, managing principal and co-founder of Onyx. “His move to JLL only strengthens our relationship with the JLL team and Adam. We wish him well in this latest career chapter and are confident that Onyx and Adam will continue to do great things together.”
Karafiol holds a bachelor’s in accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, according to a news release. He began his real estate career as a broker with Newmark, representing tenants and landlords in Manhattan, before joining Macklowe Properties to represent the company’s interests in a 12 million-square-foot portfolio of office and retail space in New York City’s Plaza District.
He later joined Cohen Brothers Realty and focused on leasing transactions within the company’s 7 million-square-foot New York City and Westchester portfolio, before setting up his own real estate services firm, Heath West Realty Corp., in New York and New Jersey.
“I have collaborated with JLL on many projects over the years and I am excited to now align with the firm as it continues to cement its reputation as a market leader in the region,” Karafiol said. “The JLL brand represents a powerful value proposition at a time of uncertainty and opportunity for tenants in the market today and I look forward to leveraging their platform to achieving client goals.”
