Former Sears Holdings and Ashley Furniture real estate and M&A executive Jim Terrell has joined A&G Realty Partners as a Senior Managing Director

From his base in the firm’s metro Chicago office, Terrell will be involved with all of A&G’s clients, designing and implementing real estate plans to maximize value. In addition, he will help direct the exit process for leased and fee-owned properties, including warehouse and corporate office restructuring, consolidation and disposition.

Terrell brings over four decades of experience to his new position at A&G, including 36 years with Sears Holdings and its subsidiaries.  Most recently he was President of Clean The Barn, Inc., an independent real estate consultancy assisting a host of clients on efforts to rationalize their real estate portfolios, while also providing guidance on transactions, organization structure and operating expense reduction. Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President of Real Estate for Ashley Furniture, where he led the retailer’s real estate activities.

From 1979 to 2015, Terrell held a variety of managerial and senior executive positions with Sears Holdings and its subsidiaries, ultimately rising to Director of Operations-Business Development (mergers and acquisitions) and Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Sears Holdings’ Real Estate Portfolio.

Over the course of his career at Sears, in addition to guiding site selection, new store openings and other retail growth initiatives, Terrell repurposed dozens of facilities, including stores, distribution centers, offices and other facilities through leasing, sub-leasing, assignments and redevelopment, often in collaboration with owners and buyers. He also negotiated hundreds of property divestures, including terminations, sales and exchanges, and recovered millions of dollars of overpayments, overbillings and other costs. Additionally, he participated in or directed several complex transactions, including the merger creating Sears Holdings Corporation, the spin-off of the Seritage Growth Property REIT and the formation of a REMIC (real estate mortgage investment conduit). Terrell was also part of the M&A team that led to Sears’ acquisitions of Land’s End and other companies.

“Jim is a prolific deal-maker with a very diverse real estate background,” said Andy Graiser, who serves as Co-President of A&G with Emilio Amendola. “He is widely recognized in the industry as an innovative problem-solver, playing key roles in a myriad of complex and creative transactions in the retail and real estate landscape. After working with Jim on a variety of deals over the years, Emilio and I are thrilled to have him on the A&G team.”

Terrell, a Certified Public Accountant and a Licensed Auctioneer in the State of Illinois, is a resident of Harvard, Ill.  He graduated from St. Bonaventure University, Olean, N.Y. with a BBA degree in Accounting.