Leslie Karr joined SVN Chicago Commercial as a vice president with over 20 years of retail real estate experience. She specializes in site selection for the development and implementation of retail tenant expansion strategies, representing developers and owners of high-density, mixed-use properties in downtown Chicago and suburban central business districts.
Karr’s completed transactions total nearly one million square feet in high-profile urban retail developments such as River East Center, Piper’s Alley, Old Town Square, Clybourn Square Lakewood Commons and a 100,000-square-foot AMC Theatres facility. She brings with her a tenant client base that includes Habit Burger Grill/Tremendous Brands, Pearle Vision, Natuzzi, Great Play, Peloton Cycle, Francesca Restaurant Group, Duchamp London, Sandbox Industries, Gage Restaurant Group and See Optical. Her institutional client list includes the General Electric Pension Fund, Silverpeak Real Estate Partners, Waterton Assoc./CalSTRS, Bank of America, Kennedy Associates and Apollo Real Estate Advisors.
Throughout her career in the industry, Karr has completed more than 500 retail transactions with the successful leasing assignments of the commercial components of The John Hancock Center, Citigroup Center/Metra Station, Wills Tower, One Magnificent Mile at 980 North Michigan Avenue, the Gage Building on Michigan Avenue, Block 37 and Deerfield Village Centre, the mixed-use downtown revitalization of an upscale Chicago suburb.
