JACK BARSON

Principal

ABOUT

Jack co-founded Terra National in 2001.  As a 35-year veteran in the real estate industry, today he serves as a strategic partner to all Terra National clients while maintaining a specialization in disposition services and lease restructuring.

Jack began his career at Developers Diversified Management Inc. and spent six years handling the leasing of the entire portfolio of shopping centers and enclosed malls covering 18 states up to and through the company’s formation of a Real Estate Investment Trust.  He then joined Doppelt & Company, the preeminent national tenant representation firm in the country, where he worked primarily for OfficeMax to establish and implement a strategic real estate program in a 20 state region.  During his time with OfficeMax, he was directly responsible for the addition of over 400 new stores.  Additionally, he was part of the team responsible for the expansion for Riser Foods and their Rini-Rego chain prior to being acquired by Giant Eagle, later then doing disposition services for Giant Eagle and overseeing the entry and expansion of the Get Go fuel stations.  While at Doppelt & Company, which later became Trammell Crow Company, he also had the opportunity to be part of the team working on the Hechinger/Builder’s Square bankruptcy disposition of assets.

Subsequent to founding Terra National, Jack continued to work as the national strategic real estate partner to OfficeMax, focused primarily on the disposition of roughly 240 leased properties nationwide covering 37 states from 2001 through 2008.  At Terra National, he was then part of the team that worked as the real estate representative for Office Depot throughout the Midwest and Pacific Northwest as well as special projects on a national level, doing a considerable amount of lease restructuring saving the company tens of millions of dollars in rent relief on stores in over 20 states.  Currently, Jack uses his direct knowledge of markets throughout the country to spearhead the team which is a national provider of disposition, lease restructuring and special project services to Advance Auto Parts stores. To date, Terra National has saved Advance Auto Parts over $140,000,000 in lease obligations and that number grows on a weekly basis.  While doing so, he has preserved hundreds of millions of dollars in value to Advance Auto landlords.  He is also part of the team that brought Fresh Thyme Farmers Market to Northeast Ohio, and headed up the national disposition and lease restructuring program for The Fresh Market. Jack also works closely with Ross Dress For Less on their Northern Ohio expansion as well as with Bob’s Discount Furniture.

Jack is a graduate of Indiana University and is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers.  On occasion, his expertise has been drawn upon as a leader of roundtable discussions at regional industry meetings and he has been engaged as an expert witness in several legal proceedings throughout Ohio.