Top Leasing Brokers Recognized by VEREIT® at ICSC RECon 2016 Special Event

PHOENIX, May 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- VEREIT, Inc. ("VEREIT" or the "Company") (NYSE: VER) announced the recipients of its annual awards for leasing excellence. The sixth annual leasing awards recognize the top professionals leasing available retail space on behalf of the Company across its owned and managed net lease portfolio. During the past year, VEREIT's leasing brokers completed more than 270 total transactions with over 1.3 million square feet in new lease transactions and nearly 2.5 million square feet in lease renewals. The recipients were personally honored during an awards ceremony in conjunction with ICSC RECon in Las Vegas on May 22.

The Leasing Broker of the Year, the program's most prestigious award, was presented to Zac Buckley of Crunkleton & Associates. He has represented the Company for four years, and currently leases two properties in northern Alabama representing approximately 240,000 square feet. Buckley was recognized for his prospecting acumen, cultivating new tenant relationships, timeliness with reports and market data, and professionalism in representing the Company's assets. Buckley successfully negotiated a new 18,100-square-foot lease with Harbor Freight Tools and has filled several small shop vacancies at the reinvigorated shopping center.

"We are honored to recognize our outstanding local market leasing partners each year at RECon, the industry's largest gathering of leasing professionals and retailers. VEREIT is able to attract and retain top-quality tenants across our markets by combining the efforts of our experienced in-house leasing team with our extensive national network of leasing brokers," explained Brett Sheets, Senior Vice President of Leasing for VEREIT. "Zac Buckley went above and beyond the normal course of duty to attract new tenants while continually demonstrating the excellence we expect from our local leasing partners."

Overall, award recipients demonstrated superior performance and made vital contributions through their efforts to maximize the value of both VEREIT's and the managed Cole Capital portfolios of anchored shopping center and single-tenant retail assets. Criteria for the awards include number and quality of transactions, accuracy and timeliness of reports, quality of marketing materials, market knowledge and prospecting prowess. Additional award recipients included:

Best New Leasing Team: Joe Ciapciak and Kristin Keane of Pace Properties, Inc. in St. Louis, MO. The team was recognized for its work on leasing Southwest Plaza, a 368,000-square-foot anchored shopping center in Springfield, IL, where they have executed seamlessly and promptly, helping to enhance this regional destination.

Most Transactions: James Chung and Marisa Organo of Cushman & Wakefield in San Jose, CA were recognized for the most new lease transactions in the VEREIT portfolio during the past year. The team was recognized for leasing The Plant, a 509,000-square-foot anchored shopping center in San Jose, CA, where they proactively marketed the properties and canvassed the surrounding markets for new tenants.

Best Prospector: Micha Bitton and Tim Maly of Colliers in Columbus, OH. The team leases The Market at Polaris, a 208,000-square-foot anchored shopping center in Columbus, OH. Bitton and Maly were honored for exceeding expectations, including their tenacity for canvassing the market for new retailers.

Several leasing broker partners were honored with Allegiance Awards which recognize their ability to align with the goals, objectives and interests of VEREIT, while constantly showing commitment, loyalty and dedication. Honorees included:

• Kim Lenardson of Colliers in Houston, TX. Lenardson leases two assets totaling approximately 320,000 square feet in Houston and Port Arthur, TX.
• Joe Parrott and Sean McCourt of CBRE in Chicago. Parrott and McCourt currently lease four assets in the Chicago market representing approximately 790,000 square feet.
• Patrick Bentley of The Shopping Center Group in Atlanta, GA. Bentley currently leases East West Commons, a 183,000-square-foot anchored shopping center in Austell, GA.
• Seth Biggerstaff of Veritas Realty in Indianapolis, IN. Biggerstaff currently leases Lafayette Pavilion, a 348,000 square-foot anchored shopping center in Lafayette, IN.
• Benton Green and Fraser Gough of Retail Planning Corporation in Atlanta, GA. Green and Gough currently lease six assets totaling 989,000 square feet in the Atlanta and Augusta, GA markets.

VEREIT and its leasing broker partners will be meeting with retailers throughout ICSC RECon from May 23-25, 2016 at booth C166L in the Las Vegas Convention Center.

About VEREIT
VEREIT is a leading, full-service real estate operating company with investment management capability. VEREIT owns and actively manages a diversified portfolio of retail, restaurant, office and industrial real estate assets with a total asset book value of $16.8 billion including 4,378 properties totaling approximately 99.0 million square feet, located in 49 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Canada. Additionally, VEREIT manages $6.8 billion of gross real estate investments on behalf of the Cole Capital® non-listed REITs. VEREIT is a publicly traded Maryland corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Additional information about VEREIT can be found on its website at www.VEREIT.com. VEREIT may disseminate important information regarding it and its operations, including financial information, through social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150727/246034LOGO

SOURCE VEREIT, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.vereit.com