Massey Knakal goes after New Jersey market

Massey Knakal Realty Services is set to hire as many as 40 brokers to staff several new offices in New Jersey, where it wants to compete with long-term New Jersey players such as CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield and Gebroe-Hammer Associates, the Wall Street Journal reported.

David Simon, a former Cassidy Turley executive, will head up the first New Jersey office. The office will employ the same territory system as the company’s New York office, whereby brokers specialize in a particular geographic area. Eventually, Massey Knakal aims to capture 20 percent of the New Jersey market, the same amount of the market it controls in New York.

Executives at competing firms have expressed skepticism that Massey Knakal will be able to lure clients from established companies in the New Jersey area. However, Massey Knakal is banking on its New York reputation to hold weight across the Hudson River.

“If you’re a New Jersey owner-operator, you’d be wise to transact with the firm with the No. 1 share in New York,” company co-founder Paul Massey told the Journal. [WSJ] –Katherine Clarke