Newmark Knight Frank to Buy 6 IRR Offices

By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Barry Gosin, CEO of Newmark Knight Frank

As part of its continuing effort to build up its Valuation & Advisory practice, Newmark Knight Frank has agreed to acquire the assets of six Integra Realty Resources offices.

The six offices are New York/New Jersey; Philadelphia; Wilmington, Del.; Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; and Atlanta. The acquisitions were led by NKF CEO Barry Gosin and Valuation & Advisory President John Busi.

Because of the franchise nature of IRR offices, the deal actually consists of five individual transactions. It’s five, not six, an NKF spokesperson explained to Commercial Property Executive, because the Baltimore and Washington offices share the same ownership.

• IRR Atlanta has served Georgia and the Southeast since 1999 and is led by Sherry Watkins and Carl Schultz Jr.
• IRR Baltimore also covers Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It began 27 years ago as Patrick C. Kerr Appraisal Group and later became Kerr Realty Advisors and is led by Edward Kerr.
• IRR New York and New Jersey has served the Tri-State Area for the past 18 years and is headed by Raymond Cirz and Matthew Krauser.
• IRR Philadelphia, previously Joseph Dennis Pasquarella & Co., has covered southern New Jersey, central Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley for 18 years. It’s led by Joseph Pasquarella, Michael Silverman and John Pasquarella.
• IRR Washington, D.C., which began 27 years ago as Patrick C. Kerr Appraisal Group, covers metro D.C. and Virginia.
• IRR Wilmington, Del., was founded in 2005 as a spin-off from IRR Philadelphia, and is led by Douglas Nickel and Joseph Pasquarella.

Financials on the deal were not disclosed. IRR did not respond to CPE’s request for a comment.

Part of a larger expansion

IRR Managing Director Joe Pasquarella, NKF President of Valuations & Advisory John Busi, IRR Principal/Senior Managing Director Pat Kerr and IRR Executive Vice President of Valuation Ray Cirz

“The professionals that will now become part of the NKF platform were founding partners in the IRR franchise,” Busi said in a prepared statement. “After spending our careers as competitors, we now have the opportunity to work side-by-side to build a business that combines all the best elements of the organizations we came from.”

Busi himself joined NKF only recently, in 2016, after 35 years with Cushman & Wakefield, where he had headed that company’s global valuation and advisory division.

In April, NKF brought in Norm LeZotte to lead its Senior Housing & Healthcare valuation practice

And in March, NKF added four senior people to its valuation practice. Helene Jacobson and Steve DuPlantis, both formerly of CBRE, joined NKF as co-leaders of U.S. Valuation and Advisory.

Ken Audette was brought in as senior managing director of finance and operations for NKF’s Valuation & Advisory practice. He had previously been North America CFO for Cushman & Wakefield.

Jason Hutchins, another CBRE veteran, came on board as senior managing director of Valuation & Advisory technology strategies.

Images courtesy of Newmark Knight Frank