Known for its work on behalf of healthy and distressed retail companies, A&G Realty Partners announced the launch of a new division focused on maximizing the value of real estate assets and leases in non-retail sectors.
The formal launch of the new Non-Retail Properties Division follows several years in which A&G has broadened its reach to such sectors as office, warehouse, higher education (both for-profit and non-profit) and residential. During the first quarter of 2017 alone, A&G completed 18 transactions with a total value of approximately $94 million for office, warehouse and higher-education properties, as well as vacant land.
“We enjoy a strong reputation in retail for providing due diligence, valuations, strategic advice, auctions, lease terminations, occupancy cost reductions, acquisitions, and other critical services,” said A&G Co-President Emilio Amendola. “This new division reflects the growing demand for our services in non-retail sectors as well. In today’s marketplace, all of our clients—everyone from property owners and tenants to hedge fund managers, private equity firms, bankruptcy trustees and asset-based lenders—recognize that you cannot afford to leave asset value on the table.”
In addition to office, warehouse and higher education, the Non-Retail Properties Division will focus on a wide range of residential properties, including rental apartments, condos and single-family home developments. Its specialists will also help clients maximize the value of vacant land, noted Andrew Graiser, Co-President of Melville, N.Y.-based A&G, which also has offices in Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.
A&G’s work outside the retail sector has increased steadily in recent years. Recent non-retail engagements by the firm include handling the disposition of a 33-property residential real estate portfolio in the Mid-Atlantic; selling a waterfront estate on Long Island; selling the office/warehouse headquarters for two national retail chains; selling the 25-acre campus of Dowling College at auction; overseeing the property sales for the bankruptcy trustee of one of the nation’s largest for-profit colleges—ITT Educational Services; and spearheading real estate strategies for three other for-profit career colleges that included lease terminations, sub-leases and occupancy cost reductions. “In each case, we leveraged our decades of experience and extensive networks to achieve robust results for the client,” Graiser said.
A&G was founded in 2012 by Graiser and Amendola, who have more than 50 years of combined experience in commercial real estate. Collectively, the A&G team has been responsible for more than 12,000 transactions, more than $5 billion in sales, and lease mitigation for more than 400 companies. Retail clients have included Sports Authority, Office Depot, CVS, Supervalu, The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., Pier1 Imports, Radio Shack, Aerosoles, and Ascena Retail Group, to name a few.
In an effort to broaden its services to the retail industry, in the first quarter of 2017, A&G co-launched Elkhorn Real Estate Partners, a joint venture with Joe McKeska, a leading supermarket industry real estate executive. Chicago-based Elkhorn offers grocers and investors an integrated, data-driven pathway toward maximizing the value of their real estate assets.