Ota joins Cushman & Wakefield as executive director

Kenji Ota, a former managing director at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF), has joined Cushman & Wakefield as an executive director. Ota is located in the firm's world headquarters office in the Midtown area. "Cushman & Wakefield has long been home to one of the highest-producing retail teams in the New York market, and Kenji Ota will make a big contribution to our retail group's powerful growth trajectory," said Ron Lo Russo, president, New York tri-state region. "He is a valuable addition to our contingent of first-rate retail brokers." At NGKF, Ota played a leadership role in business development and account management for both commercial property owners and retail tenants. He also helped owners boost asset value through the repositioning and upgrade of properties. "We're excited to have a dedicated and talented professional like Kenji join an already strong retail team and we look forward to his contributions," said Suzy Reingold, COO, NY tri-state region. Ota compiled an impressive portfolio of tenant transactions. He represented such prominent clients as Under Armour, New York Community Bank, Wendy's International, City Sports, and Urgent Care Manhattan. A graduate of Lehigh University, Ota holds a bachelor of arts degree in Psychology. He also holds a master's degree in Education and Human Development. The firm recently released its market report for the fourth quarter of 2013. The report cited Manhattan's retail sector as an area of strength that has outpaced national retail trends. Boosted by tourism as a key driver of retail traffic, the report found that the sector was steadily performing beyond expectations, with supporting fundamentals pointing to further sustainability. Long known for thought leadership, Cushman & Wakefield's flagship retail research report Main Streets Across the World recently celebrated its 25th year monitoring and analyzing the evolution of the industry and global retail trends, ranking the most expensive locations in the top 334 shopping destinations across 64 countries. Additionally, the firm's Global Cities Retail Guide, a guide designed to help real estate professionals better understand the business of international retail and food & beverage operators, tracks more than 105 cities and 44 countries worldwide. The web-based guide offers insights to local markets, including culture, demographics, customs, how business is done, leasing guidelines, where major shopping streets are, which type of retailers can be found in different submarkets and more. Whether it is luxury retail, shopping center leasing or urban high streets, Cushman & Wakefield's 900 global retail specialists leverage their vast local market knowledge and global perspective to help clients succeed. We have secured cross-border expansion for major retail brands growing internationally led by our teams with expertise in market entry strategy, leasing & sales transactions and valuation & advisory services. With over 500 preferred and exclusive relationships worldwide, C&W retail professionals represented clients in more than 7,700 transactions, representing nearly 63.4 million square feet valued at $15.62 billion in 2012.