RKF Crosses Border with Toronto Office

TORONTO-RKF, the New York City-based retail leasing, investment sales and consulting services firm, has launched its first cross-border office here, GlobeSt.com has learned exclusively. The RKF Toronto office will be led by Canadian retail services veteran Steven Alikakos, who will serve as president, Canada. A few weeks earlier, RKF formalized an affiliation with UK-based retail consulting firm CWM Retail Property Advisors LLP.

Although RKF's entry into Canada comes via Toronto, “It's not just Toronto we have our eye on, but the whole country,” Robert Futterman, RKF's chairman and CEO, tells GlobeSt.com. “You've seen so many tenants come from Canada and do well in the US, like Aritzia, Icebreaker, lululemon, Barbour, Joe Fresh. Similar to our affiliation in London, we want to be able to service those tenants' needs in the US, and there might be many more.”

Just as important, he adds, is “the number of retailers in the US that want to expand into Canada. Toronto is sort of the gateway to the country, but you have other markets, like Montreal, Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary with densely populated cities, excellent demographics and a very strong economy. We think the time is right.”

Making the RKF platform available for expansion into Canada is being offered as well to retailers from overseas “who want entrée not just into the US, but also see Canada as a viable market.” Calgary and Edmonton, both energy hubs, in particular represent “an excellent opportunity for growth.”

Asked whether more offices in Canada would be a possibility, Futterman says, “It's something that we'll talk about. We see the office in Toronto being staffed by eight to 10 brokers and staff within 12 months. Once we've done that, we'll explore satellite offices in other cities.”

RKF's expansion recently has been broad-based. “We have seven offices in the US,” Futterman says. “We're expanding our Miami office, we're growing in Chicago and have probably the second-largest share of the market in the Greater Los Angeles area.” In New York, too, “we're expanding our existing square footage by a third, so we plan on adding more brokers.” Boston and Washington expansion is also under consideration for the next year or so.

This expansion is also occurring amid a rising market. “Retail, especially in the urban areas, is very strong, and that's where we focus our business,” says Futterman. “We see many national and international tenants wanting to expand.”