COLUMBUS—Newmark Grubb Knight Frank has just strengthened its position in the Midwest by acquiring Continental Realty Ltd., the Columbus-based leasing and property management divisions of parent company Continental Real Estate Cos., for an undisclosed amount. NGKF officials say they will not acquire Continental's development business, but uniting with the other divisions will help drive growth opportunities for their existing operations in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus. And for the brokers at Continental, the deal also opens up a lot of opportunities.

“It gives us a national reach,” Jim Clark, former executive vice president of Continental, tells GlobeSt.com. “We can now show potential clients a map of our offices with dots in all of the major cities in the US,” as well as places overseas such as Hong Kong and Beijing. “It changes the game for us.”

Founded in 1975, Continental is one of the largest commercial brokerage operations in Central OH. The firm handles all aspects of commercial brokerage including office, industrial, retail, land and investment sales. Clark will lead the office as managing director. He joined Continental in 2014, where his focus has been on new office and industrial development projects. Prior to joining Continental, Clark worked at Duke Realty, where he was part of a development team that built more than five million square feet of office and 10 million square feet of industrial in central OH.