A&G Real Estate Partners Delivers Big Wins in 2025

Firm's award-winning portfolio-optimization team touched 71.5 million square feet of real estate in year marked by high-profile projects, new hires, promotions, and strong growth by retailers

NEW YORK, Jan. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The deep bench of portfolio-optimization specialists at A&G Real Estate Partners made a significant impact on commercial real estate in 2025, yielding hundreds of millions of dollars in occupancy-cost savings and recoveries for 22 healthy, in-transition and distressed clients.

New York-based A&G led occupancy cost reduction, lease restructuring and disposition efforts for 4,453 leases and fee-owned properties across 71.5 million square feet, which included retail stores, offices, warehouse distribution centers, labs, healthcare clinics, restaurants, educational campuses, and even the sale of a New Jersey farm.

"I'm proud of what our teams were able to accomplish," said A&G Co-President Andy Graiser. "By maximizing the value of our clients' real estate, they kept hundreds of locations open, saved thousands of jobs, and supported business performance and growth nationwide by connecting expanding operators with millions of square feet of newly available space."

Making a difference
A key highlight of 2025 was the firm's role in helping The Container Store emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy last January, stated A&G Co-President Emilio Amendola. "Our team executed 58 lease-restructurings and secured $109 million in occupancy cost savings for the retailer in a prepackaged bankruptcy lasting just 37 days," he explained. "The Container Store was able to minimize store closings, and we continue to advise them on go-forward real estate strategy."

A&G also made a major impact on the commercial real estate market during 2025 via its work for Rite Aid Corp. The nation's third largest drug chain filed for Chapter 11 in May 2025, with plans to liquidate. A&G's strategic marketing campaign attracted more than 1,700 interested parties and resulted in the sale of leases to operators such as Dollar Tree, Five Below, Burlington, Ross, Ace Hardware and multiple grocery chains. In addition, A&G sold 50 fee-owned Rite Aid properties.

The all-in real estate proceeds from A&G's final Rite Aid engagement totaled $95 million. "Operators across the country bought leases in these sales," Amendola said. "You're talking about continued operation of 2 million square feet of real estate that otherwise would have gone dark."

The momentum of A&G's non-bankruptcy work accelerated in 2025, with the firm beginning or completing projects on behalf of clients such as Leslie's Pool Supplies, Sleep Number, Northern Tool + Equipment, Sprouts Farmers Market, Office Depot, Gabe's and West Marine, to name a few.

A&G handled real estate sales on major Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases such as Party City, Big Lots, Joann, Bargain Hunt Stores and was most recently retained by American Signature, Inc.

Growth across more sectors
"A&G's work in non-retail sectors continued to grow exponentially in 2025," said A&G Senior Managing Director Alexandra Graiser. "We're currently optimizing the portfolio of a major national healthcare clinical practice. Sectors like healthcare, life sciences and education are more aware of the need to align their portfolios with their objectives and current performance."

Also in 2025, A&G delivered more than $50 million in real estate savings to a life sciences client by engaging with landlords to restructure the Boston-based company's leases. 

Franchisees benefit from A&G's market knowledge
Multiunit restaurant franchisees turned to A&G to lower their occupancy costs and chart go-forward strategies as costs rose and cash-strapped diners tightened their purse strings, said Chicago-based A&G Principal Joe McKeska, leader of the firm's Grocery, Restaurant and Pharmacy Practice. 

"We've seen strong interest in being proactive and handling this out of court, especially among QSR, fast-casual and legacy chains that target customer segments that are becoming more cost-conscious," he said. "Reducing your occupancy costs can give you more flexibility to fund value-focused marketing and promotional strategies that can win back customers."

Growing A&G's bench
In 2025 Global M&A Advisor named A&G "Real Estate Advisor of the Year" for the sixth consecutive year. As Amendola sees it, that recognition was due to the deep experience of the firm's existing bench as well as a series of new hires and internal promotions, including that of Douglas Bennett to Principal and Alexandra Graiser to Senior Managing Director. 

A&G's key team members bring an average of 20 years of experience in portfolio-optimization, real estate sales, due diligence, valuations and growth consulting.

"We're on the cusp of announcing new hires that will further expand the resources and expertise we offer our clients," Amendola concluded. "That's important, because we've seen a significant amount of activity that will be rolling into 2026. We're excited to see A&G's momentum continue into the New Year." 

About A&G
A&G Real Estate Partners is a team of commercial real estate experts that always derives the highest possible value for clients' real estate assets and leases. A&G brings a proven track record in portfolio-optimization, real estate sales, due diligence, valuations, and strategic growth consulting in virtually every real estate sector. Known for integrity, technology, and market intelligence, A&G has advised the nation's leading brands in both healthy and distressed situations. Since 2012, the firm has sold over $13 billion in properties and leases and negotiated over $12 billion in occupancy-cost savings for clients. A&G is headquartered in New York with offices throughout the country.  For more information, visit: www.agrep.com.

Media Contact: At Jaffe Communications, Elisa Krantz, (908) 789-0700, [email protected] 

SOURCE A&G Real Estate Partner