Due Diligence Services
The emergence of bank foreclosures, debt laden developers and the loss of major anchors have triggered an increase in commercial real estate investment opportunities. As investors test the waters and compete to snap up attractive yields, many may find themselves ill equipped to traverse the demands of a competitive due diligence timeframe. Utilizing our experience as owners, developers, and buyers CASTO has formed a due diligence service team to help public and private buyers facilitate single property and large portfolio transactions.
The CASTO organization holds 23 million square feet of retail property, of which $1.78 billion of it has been acquired in the past ten years. With over 80 years of experience, CASTO has tremendous industry knowledge that well surpasses its competitors when reviewing real estate property documents. Our team draws on our experience as owners, developers and buyers to highlight issues such as those that could impede the redevelopment of a property, cause potential CAM slippage and/or diminish value through cumbersome lease exclusives.
CASTO's due diligence team is comprised of the company's acquisitions manager, a loan/financing specialist, a property management specialist, an asset manager and two administrative support personnel to navigate through the myriad of due diligence documentation. With over 200 real estate employees at CASTO, we have access to additional staff and the flexibility to augment our group to facilitate a timely review of information on larger transactions.
Our Due Diligence Team
>> Stephanie May - Acquisitions Manager
| 191 W. Nationwide Blvd. Suite 200 Columbus, OH 43215 T: (614) 744-3404 F: (614) 229-4386 smay@castoinfo.com Specialty
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Career Summary As acquisitions manager for CASTO, Ms. May brings over 10 years of experience to the company in the area of real estate transaction and management activity including, property and company level acquisition, disposition, joint ventures, partnership creation, recapitalizations and asset management. Stephanie started her career in real estate as an analyst in the real estate investment banking group at Merrill Lynch & Co. Prior to joining CASTO Ms. May served as an associate for Vornado Realty Trust's retail department where she was responsible for leasing four regional malls and managing the department's leasing budget and capital expenditure programs. In her six years with CASTO Stephanie has completed nearly $800 million in retail real estate acquisitions and joint ventures. Throughout the course of her career Ms. May has completed over $2.0 billion in commercial real estate transactions. Noteworthy transactions include the $220 million purchase of Rookwood Commons from Jeffrey Anderson Real Estate through a joint venture between CASTO and JP Morgan, the formation of a $100 million joint venture between Commercial Centers Mgt, Inc. and CASTO, $442 million Common Stock Offering for iStar Financial and a $74 million Common Stock Offering for MuniMae Midland LLC. Ms. May received her Bachelor of Arts from Colgate University in 1998 with a concentration in Sociology and a minor in German. |
>> Julie Engle - Director-VP, Property and Asset Management
191 W. Nationwide Blvd. Suite 200 Columbus, OH 43215 T: (614) 744-2228 F: (614) 221-7979 jengle@castoinfo.com Specialty
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Career Summary As a property and asset manager for CASTO, Ms. Engle brings over 26 years of experience to the company in the area of real estate management including, acquisitions, dispositions, direct center management, real estate tax valuation and appeals, lease reviews, accounting and asset management. Julie started her career in real estate in 1983 at R.J. Solove and Associates handling the company's property accounting and property management. In 1987 Ms. Engle received her real estate license and began leasing for the company. After joining CASTO in 1999, Ms. Engle continued with her property management responsibilities and began assisting with acquisitions and dispositions. Julie also manages CAM and lease disputes, conducts major lease and REA's reviews, supervises the capital and operational budgeting for the company's portfolio and is involved with and serves as an officer of many of the property owners associations. In addition to her property and asset management responsibilities, Ms. Engle has run the property tax reductions group for 25 years in 4 states conducting annual reviews across the CASTO portfolio insuring all properties are appropriately valued in today's market. Ms. Engle attended The Ohio State University in Business Management and Marketing ISCS School of Asset Management Hondros School for Real Estate and Brokers License Hondros School for Home Inspections |
>> Kelly Casto - Analyst, Asset Management
| 191 W. Nationwide Blvd. Suite 200 Columbus, OH 43215 T: (614) 744-3286 F: (614) 744-3646 kcasto@castoinfo.com Specialty
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Career Summary Ms. Casto joined the CASTO team in 2002 as a retail real estate leasing agent. During her time as a leasing representative, Ms. Casto completed over 40 lease transactions within her 87 shopping portfolio. From 2005-2006, Kelly assisted the retail development group with the noteworthy Broad & High redevelopment project. The Columbus, OH based project involved the complete renovation of two historic buildings and the construction of a new five-story building in the downtown metro area. The completed project boasts 23 penthouse and mid-rise luxury condominium homes, 25,000 square feet of class A office space and 9,000 square feet of premium street retail. After completing her MBA in 2008, Ms. Casto returned to CASTO in an asset management advisory capacity. Kelly is responsible for assisting with the leasing, property management, budgeting and financing for a portfolio of 70 assets with more than 7 million square feet located in Puerto Rico, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Vermont, Illinois, California and Ohio. Ms. Casto received her Masters in Business Administration from The Ohio State Fisher College of Business, with a concentration in Real Estate and Strategy and a Bachelors of Arts from the University of Vermont with a double major in Spanish and Business Development. |