Most recently president at DJM Real Estate, a Gordon Brothers Group company, Kelly leads a team of former DJM professionals including Ben Gould, Tom Laczay, Lara Sessler, Fred Burstein and Ed Zimmer. The team will work with current CBRE professionals, including Rick Weinberg, Chris Hodge, Kevin Torch, Nena Mass, Suzanne Washburn and Matt Friday, to form one of the industry's largest disposition practices.

The practice has applications outside of retail, as well. Kelly's team has experience handling work within bankruptcy cases and involving other asset classes such as office, industrial and special-purpose properties

LOS ANGELES—CBRE Group said Wednesday it had launched a group to help retailers and other occupiers seeking to reshape their store portfolios. The new Occupier Restructuring & Disposition Services practice is being led by industry veteran Neill Kelly.

CBRE's new disposition practice is intended to meet a growing need among today's retailers, who increasingly want to optimize their store portfolios to create their ideal mix of brick-and-mortar stores and online operations. In particular, mature national retailers have been retrenching to focus on their most profitable stores by vacating or selling others.

Retailers aren't the only potential users of disposition and restructuring services. Others include private-equity sponsors that require pre-acquisition portfolio analysis or post-acquisition portfolio transactions; and investment banks or law firms with clients going through restructuring or liquidation.

“CBRE's formation of this practice provides retailers and other occupiers with a valuable combination of the expertise of this restructuring and disposition group along with CBRE's broad suite of real estate services and global reach,” says Brandon Famous, senior managing director and leader of CBRE's retailer representation practice in the Americas. “These types of resources are invaluable for retailers adapting to the ever-shifting market.” Kelly is based in Melville, NY and reports to Famous.

Most recently president at DJM Real Estate, a Gordon Brothers Group company, Kelly leads a team of former DJM professionals including Ben Gould, Tom Laczay, Lara Sessler, Fred Burstein and Ed Zimmer. The team will work with current CBRE professionals, including Rick Weinberg, Chris Hodge, Kevin Torch, Nena Mass, Suzanne Washburn and Matt Friday, to form one of the industry's largest disposition practices.

The practice has applications outside of retail, as well. Kelly's team has experience handling work within bankruptcy cases and involving other asset classes such as office, industrial and special-purpose properties