Newmark Knight Frank Puts Its Money in Knotel

By Barbra Murray

Barry Gosin, CEO of Newmark Knight Frank

Newmark Knight Frank knows how to be flexible. The commercial real estate advisory firm has made a strategic investment in Knotel, a burgeoning provider of customized, flexible office space. The partnership will allow NKF to present its clients—tenants and owners alike—with new opportunities, as flexible accommodations continue to play an increasingly pivotal role in the office sector.

“We see tremendous growth and long-term opportunity in the flexible office market, which Knotel has taken to a new level,” Barry Gosin, CEO of Newmark Knight Frank, said in a prepared statement.

Knotel was formed in 2015, but already, the firm has a network of companies exceeding 1,000 and a portfolio of 30 locations in New York City, including the newly added 26,300-square-foot space at 9 Times Square, San Francisco and London. For office users with as many as 1,000 employees, the firm’s platform provides made-to-measure, a-la-carte space, as well as services and adaptable lease terms. And for property owners, Knotel delivers a new demand pool, the access to which can help bolster occupancy rates and property revenue.  

“On both the ownership side and the tenant side, there is a recognition that innovation is coming and flexibility is the hallmark,” Gosin added. “With this investment in Knotel, we’re supporting this powerful platform and bringing it to our unparalleled network of owners and tenants.”

The flex factor

NKF’s new partnership with Knotel comes at a time when the co-working industry is turning heads, and the flexible office space concept is beginning to be a factor.

“Co-working firms…are leasing large blocks of space in a growing number of markets and releasing the space in bulk to Fortune 500 companies seeking short-term, flexible arrangements,” as noted in a fourth quarter 2017 report by commercial real estate development association NAIOP. “While demand for co-working spaces has been attributed mainly to small entrepreneurial entities, there is growing evidence that major corporations are preferring this arrangement over long-term, inflexible leases offered by most traditional landlords.”

 Image courtesy of Newmark Knight Frank