A&G Real Estate Partners announced the creation of a structured investment sales division, recruiting a four-person team that collectively brings 80-plus years of experience in structured turnkey dispositions of portfolios and individual properties across all asset classes. Among the new hires was senior managing director Jamie Coté, who will work from the firm’s Chicago office.
Led by industry veteran Jeff Hubbard, who was named a senior managing director, the team also includes managing directors Katie DeCoste and Christian Koulichkov, who will all be based out of A&G’s Melville, Long Island headquarters. The four were part of a special situations group that has worked together for nearly 20 years, most recently at Paul J. Massey’s B6 Real Estate Advisors in New York.
Tapping a global network of buyers, the division’s team has worked nationwide on behalf of healthy and distressed clients in designing and executing asset-specific disposition solutions, including cases involving bankruptcies and out-of-court workout restructurings.
“Jeff’s group has emerged as a national leader in executing complex structured accelerated dispositions of major commercial and residential portfolios, as well as individual properties,” said A&G co-president, Emilio Amendola. “We’ve partnered with them on numerous non-retail projects over the years…No matter the size of the project, we were impressed with their professional approach and the values they were able to obtain in a 90- to 120-day process. They worked each asset as if they owned it and always put the seller first. Their business model complements our approach to each client and each project.”
The team expands A&G’s in-house capabilities to include sealed bid and live auctions, portfolio sales, note sales and sale-leaseback transactions, while broadening the range of asset classes served beyond the firm’s traditional retail, restaurant, warehouse/distribution, office and higher-education sectors to include investment properties (hospitality, industrial, multifamily, shopping centers), luxury home and development projects, as well development land and special use properties.
Noting that the group has amassed billions of dollars in sales of real estate in the years they’ve been together, A&G co-president Andy Graiser said the new division gives the firm “a solid launching pad for auctions and accelerated sales, which will become even more critical in today’s ‘New World.’ Creating this division is one more example of our commitment to remain ahead of the curve and to meet the needs of our clients, whether they are lenders, investors, special servicers, non-profits or any companies holding real estate to maximize their liquidity position through an accelerated sales/auction process.”
The division’s client base includes Fortune 500 corporations, trustees, attorneys, financial institutions, private equity firms, developers, investors, non-profits, government agencies and high-net-worth individuals.
“I’ve known Andy and Emilio for over 20 years, working with them on numerous non-retail projects,” said Hubbard. “Based on that past history, the opportunity to become part of one of the nation’s most-trusted commercial real estate disposition firms is the absolute right fit for our group, which brings a non-distressed approach to distressed accelerated sale situations. Leveraging each of our areas of expertise will benefit our respective teams and, ultimately, our clients.”
