Professional Experience
Ken Stern is a Senior Vice President of Retail Leasing Services at CBRE, and is a leader of the firm’s Restaurant Practice Group.
Prior to joining CBRE, Ken was with DDR Corp. (NYSE: DDR) for 23 years. Most recently, he was Senior Vice President of Peripheral Development, where he was responsible for managing, supervising, and strategically planning the entire U.S. platform of DDR’s peripheral land opportunities, which at its peak had over 700 retail properties comprising nearly 200 million square feet. Ken has negotiated over 500 transactions totaling $750 million dollars in realized income value. He has implemented leasing strategies, and ultimately analyzed, negotiated and executed leases in power centers, community centers, specialty centers, and lifestyle centers. Ken’s hands-on approach was instrumental in leasing over 25 ground-up shopping center developments and numerous re-developments throughout DDR’s portfolio where he also contributed to design, layout, financial budgeting and financial feasibility analysis in order to maximize returns for the developments.
In his 23 years at DDR, Ken established extensive national restaurant and entertainment relationships, brought in some the nation’s most recognizable chains as junior anchors, and has provided these clients with a platform for national expansion throughout the DDR portfolio. Ken has also negotiated land sales with many other types of users, including many well-known banks and hotels.
Currently, Ken has been identified by nationally recognized restaurant chains in creating and implementing their national platform in divesting of underperforming or closed units vis-a-vie lease assignments or asset sales. Additionally, Ken is overseeing the leasing and strategic planning of the Food and Beverage component for 7 nationally located malls owned by QIC Properties.
