With nearly 30 years experience in various aspects of commercial real estate, as well as a distinguished retail management background, John Culmone brings a unique combination of talent and expertise ideally suited to guide CRA’s clients to maximum profitability and brand-building success. John also boats an unmatched background in sourcing development locations for shopping center as well as targeted tenant development. This work has included an impressive roster of the top retailers in the industry, including Target, Walmart, Home Depot, Costco, Walgreen’s, CVS, Lowes and many others.
In addition to being an active member of the CRA client services team, John specializes in large parcel development. His many strengths include a keen eye for repurposing property, assembling multiple parcels in a strategic and economically viable fashion for shopping center or tenant development requirements and handling local politics. This history of work afforded him an extensive inventory of ownership and site identification information that’s second to none. John also serves as our resident expert on entitlement process and political maneuvering and brings this expertise to bear for CRA’s clients.
Prior to joining CRA, John led the development activities for two of the most respected and successful development companies in the Northeast. As Director of Development and Acquisitions for Breslin Realty Development on Long Island and Director of Development for the Richmond Company in Massachusetts, he was responsible for sourcing development projects for both the current profitability and for the future portfolio growth of the companies, as well as managing the current portfolio of retail properties. His responsibility included all project aspects from site sourcing through permitting, transactional as well as securing of anchor tenants. These projects included the likes of Home Depot, Target, Walmart, Lowes and others.
John’s background also includes experience on the corporate retail side of the industry, serving as Real Estate Manager for Allied Domecq on Long Island. This position carried responsibilities for Allied’s location expansion plan throughout the market. From strategic planning, budgeting, site search, transactional negotiation through capital expense package preparation and presentation, to design and construction, John touched all aspects of unit development.
In addition, he held positions in both real estate and retail management, including CB Commercial, Vice President of Retail Brokerage Services for Grubb & Ellis in Boston and extensive tenure with Sears Roebuck & Co. Rising from the Sears Credit Central division through personnel manager for Sears Watchung, NJ store to Merchandise Manager, Operations Manager & Store Manager for several locations in the Sears chain, John was responsible for all aspects of store performance. His crowning achievement was being a part of the management team that took a mediocre Hicksville, Long Island store to the largest volume and most profitable location in the entire chain in 1984.
John attended Adelphi University in Garden City, Long Island. He is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers and Corenet. He now resides in Wading River, Long Island with his wife Marianne, a tenured teacher within the Shoreham Wading River school district.