This Real Estate Kingpin Maps Out the Path to Megadeals

The best view of New York City can be found in a conference room on the 12th floor of a Midtown Manhattan office building. Inside the room is a map created by Bob Knakal, a well-known figure in the New York City real estate industry. The map, made during the early months of the pandemic, details all the properties in Manhattan below 96th Street on the East Side and 110th Street on the West Side. It is regularly updated with color-coded markers indicating properties for sale, recently sold, owned by the city, under construction, or underutilized. According to Knakal, the real estate business is primarily an information business.