Faraz Cheema, MSRE, CCIM, SIOR

Today I'm honored and privileged to announce that I will start at @BKRealEstateAdv - BK Real Estate Advisors in New York focusing on Manhattan Office Capital Markets with not only selling assets as stabilized and value add office assets, but as well as conversion and redevelopment to the highest and best use the zoning and conditions permits. This wasn't an easy decision to leave my hometown and primary market that I focus in, which is the Washington, DC MSA, but three months ago I knew the timing an opportunity presented itself to not only work with my good friend and mentor @BobKnakal, but truly learn from the best. Was I nervous? Yes 100%, it was uncomfortable making this huge change! I wouldn't say I was restarting my career, but making a major pivot & relearning a new market from scratch. Not only that, Bob & I became really good friends, & I didn't want to let my good friend down if I started working at BKREA. So I finally made the ask over two months ago in Late March when I was in NYC & Bob was shocked I'd was willing to start over & be in the trenches with in him, that being said he was beyond thrilled. I'm still not going to lie, this still makes me a little nervous, but BK says I have nothing to worry about, but that being said I still don't want to let a friend down, so I'm just going to have to work 5-10X harder!! Thank you again Bob for this opportunity! To all my friends in Washington DC, don't worry I'll still be in town 3 days a week since most of my family lives in the DC MSA, and family is one thing you can't put a price on! #commercialrealestate #newyork #newbeginnings

Morning things… w/ @shantiryle @FarazUCheemaCRE @hey_itsfly & @frozengreen

REGala is done (for me…folks going to Karaoke City in Korea Town) Some fave shots of the night @FarazUCheemaCRE @Dudewithacigar @frozengreen @Jamesashields @cretaxgal @realEstateTrent @TanyaARagan

@TheMoRegalado @shantiryle @hey_itsfly @frozengreen Great seeing everyone this morning

@realEstateTrent I was there! Lmao tagging @atomicrohm

Nicest guy ever just ran up to me in Philadelphia. “Dude I love your account. But you blocked me.” Yikes. Sometimes I get it wrong. I talk this account very seriously, the social media world is a crazy place, and I decided a while back to block out anyone here to bring down, discredit baselessly, or who brings on negativity. Today was proof it’s been an imperfect system. Will try to do better 🙏

Selfie game strong at @SIORglobal spring conference. With @FarazUCheemaCRE and @jcazana

@TheMoRegalado @SIORglobal @jcazana Great seeing you Mo!

Everyone has a take on office right now. Most of them are loud. Very few are honest. In this episode of Weiss Advice Podcast, I sat down with @FarazUCheemaCRE who lives inside the Manhattan office market every day. Not theorizing. Not guessing. Actually talking to owners who are making real decisions with real money. In this clip, Faraz shares what happens when you stop asking, “Is office dead?” And start asking better questions. What surprised me wasn’t the fear. It was the clarity. This entire conversation goes deeper into: • How office owners are really thinking today • Why pricing, not headlines, is driving decisions • What experience on the ownership side teaches you that brokerage alone never will If you’re an investor, operator, or advisor trying to make sense of office in this cycle, this episode will change how you look at it. 🎧 Full episode of Weiss Advice is live. Watch the clip. Then listen to the whole conversation wherever you listen to podcasts.

The Knakal Map Room was pleased to welcome our 1,000th guest over the summer. I was so happy it was Henry Abramov, an old friend and commercial real estate research guru, who said, “Being in The Knakal Map Room is like being in an amusement park”. Henry was in research for many years, having served at On-Line Residential and the Lee & Associates. Henry is now Head of Commercial Real Estate Data at Bloomberg. He probably asked more questions about The Map than any other visitor we have had! Happy to have you back, my friend!

When I use to work in Central PA before coming up to NYC, whenever I had an issue with any of my MBs, Sun Motor cars was always very helpful and when a car needed longer than a day, they would provide a loaner knowing it would be gone for a week since I would only be in CPA once a week from DC. Great dealership to work with

Update: Somebody saw the post and reached out to help. They located the car - and I picked it up last night. So appreciative, so here goes: If you're looking for a Mercedes, Chris Boyles is your guy! Turns out when you make a habit out of helping people just because you want to help, great things happen!

@shantiryle @realEstateTrent @ItsKasum @BobKnakal @JamesNelsonNYC @CoryZelnik I just texted you

OK, this is a Hail Mary request, but do I know anyone in NYC who can help a friend get a virtual marriage license appointment by the end of this week??@realEstateTrent @ItsKasum @BobKnakal @JamesNelsonNYC @CoryZelnik anyone??

I haven’t climbed a ladder since when I sold an 21K SF industrial building in Baltimore while I was back in the DC/Baltimore Area, but @ZarPropertyNY was asking me if I was like @BobKnakal and would climb a ladder if I had to. If you didn’t know Bob went viral on a post climbing up a ladder with his dress shirt, dress pants, tie, and his Louis Vuitton Sneakers. What David didn’t know is roughly 50% of my business was office and the other 50% was industrial back in the DC/Balitmore Area so getting down and dirty wasn’t un heard of (back then it was always dark dress shirt, jeans, and either sneakers or boots). That being said Manhattan basically has non existent industrial product in the area to really be a specialist in Manhattan, so I shifted my focus to office especially in a time when office values above 20k SF and below 60th St from 2020 to now have lost on average 52.7%, with office to residential conversions on the rise especially with City of Yes and Midtown South Mixed Use Rezoning. Some people called me crazy to get into office at the worse possible time in NYC, but learning the Manhattan Office Capital Markets in a downturn is probably the best time to learn since transactions are down, owners are trying to kick the can on existing debt so they aren’t trying to sell, and if I was going to switch markets to learn from the best, it was best to do it now. That being said I hope no one falls off any ladders and Happy Labor Day to everyone!

Read the full article: hubs.ly/Q03FtLc-0 Thank you to these SIOR Member Contributors for their vital insights: Faraz Cheema, SIOR, & Matt Sultenfuss, SIOR #SIOR #SIORReport #CREReport #CREArticle #CRE

Yesterday at the @BKRealEstateAdv we celebrated our team mate @RyanCandel15 Birthday! Ryan has worked with @BobKnakal since Old Co. and was BK’s right hand in the #knakalmaproom as well as all of his transactions. When BK was let go from his former role, Ryan came over with Bob not long after as Senior Vice President of Transactions at #BKREA. I always say if BK is the engine that moves BKREA, than Ryan is definitely the oil the keep all of BK’s deals running smoothly. Not only is Ryan is BK’s right hand but also trained @JasSainiCRE , @Artofthebroker , and myself on BOVs, Research, and utilizing tools specifically for #NYC If you didn’t know, Ryan was named Commercial Obeservers 2025 Young Professionals in Commercial Real Estate and even made the cover! Happy Birthday Ryan! Thanks for everything you do in and out of the office!

@nilelundgren @ZarPropertyNY @BobKnakal @BKRealEstateAdv Should come see it before it’s complete so you can see the before and after

@FarazUCheemaCRE @ZarPropertyNY @BobKnakal @BKRealEstateAdv Love to see this!

With our good friend and client David Zar and rest of the family at @ZarPropertyNY as we toured 37 East 18th Street, the first deal @BobKnakal sold at @BKRealEstateAdv which was almost a year ago. This 90K Office building in Flatiron District is going through heavy renovations as we speak and should be slated for completion by start of Q4 2025. Once the renovations are complete, the interior of the building will be unrecognizable. David, Dario, and the rest of the Zar Family has been great to work with as we have pitched them mutiple other buildings as we speak. I’m looking forward for to the grand opening party soon with the new roof deck!

Yesterday in the #knakalmaproom we had our good friend @nilelundgren stop by after coming back from a top producer event in Jackson Hole, WY for a quick overview of the famous map as Nile not only works on luxury listings but also condo sales for developers in #NYC and wanted to see what was going in the condo development market. I managed to grab lunch with Nile afterwards and I have to say hearing his story from moving to NY, closing his first deal which was a $600 studio apartment in a basement with only a $200 commission check to now being a mega broker not only at Serhant but worldwide shows you anyone can succeed in this business if you put everything in to it. Also Nile’s grind and competitiveness almost is on par with @BobKnakal ! Great seeing you yesterday Nile!

I was supposed to post this last week but better late than never. My brother Saalar Cheema wrapped up his Summer 2025 Internship this year with my former partner Justin Rice-Moore with the start up of his new CRE Team back in DC helping with research and marketing. If you didn’t know Saalar was our first batch of intern’s at BKREA - BK Real Estate Advisors with Case Wagstaff, and Muti Ur Rehman (CRE Marketing) back at Bob Knakal Map Room 1.0 I made sure I got to see Saalar before going back to University of Miami to finish his Senior Year. From what I heard, he starts his Fall 2025 internship at another Commercial Real Estate Brokerage in the Southeast Florida Area covering the Miami Market. Good luck on your new internship and your senior year at University of Miami!

I don’t really post too much about my family but last 7 days I spent time back home as my mom (pictured in the far left) was in the hospital from last Sunday to Thursday, but she managed to get back on her feet by Sunday when my sister Zara hosted my baby Nephews 4th Birthday. One thing I’ll put before work is always my family and while dealing with my Mom in the hospital, my work schedule was all over the place. That being said even when I ran my team back in DC I always had support of another team mate or two on a deal as situations such as family emergencies always pop up. That being said special shout out to my team mates: Ryan Candel for handling a majority of the calls for our 2 office listings we have that I was only able to get 32 calls this week (normally I’m doing 40-60 calls now a week with owners) Nick Tuleu for handling a pitch we had last minute and coordinating with the owners to go over our proposal Jas Saini for updating a proposal and BOV for a deal we are working and working on the marketing for a deal we just signed for a development site I’ve been working on for months If it wasn’t for team mates like these guys I would be able to be home with my family when they needed me the most! Incase you’re wondering who’s in the photo left to right - Mom, Brother in Law, Sister, Nephew, Nephew, Sister in Law, Brother, Nephew, and my Dad. Only two missing in this photo is Saalar Cheema who’s back in school at University of Miami (I heard he got another brokerage internship down there) and my brother that’s overseas.

@cpettit815 And making a flip for another 50M+!

@FarazUCheemaCRE They acquired it already 😂

Not sure if I should be annoyed or flattered when they see these “off market brokers” pitching a deal that BKREA is the exclusive agent on. This person is trying to make 50M+ on top of the deal 😂

@TheMoRegalado What’s more hilarious is how do you expect not for me to see this when were connected on social 😂

@FarazUCheemaCRE This is the wildest fucking thing to me