Five Decades of Successful Real Estate Investment
OUR STORY
Newcastle Properties was founded by James D. Devine and John E. Gross, two highly successful commercial real estate brokers in Chicago. Working for the legendary Arthur Rubloff & Co., they eventually joined together to start investing for their own account. With retail real estate as their initial focus, the portfolio of properties grew significantly, at one time topping 3,800,000 sf and currently totaling over 2,800,000 sf.
Today, the portfolio includes retail, multi-family, hospitality, and office properties with a tenant base that includes: Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Advocate Health, Hampton Inn, CVS, Walgreens, Jewel (Albertsons), Michael’s, McDonald’s, Dollar Tree, Portillo’s, Chipotle, Party City, Panera, Citibank, Starbucks, Noodles and Company, Planet Fitness, Just Tires, Curaleaf, Honeybaked Ham, Wingstop, and Bahama Buck’s among others.
FOUNDERS
John E. Gross
CEO/Principal
Mr. Gross is the Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder and Co-owner of Newcastle Properties, L.L.C. Newcastle was founded in 1989 with a partner, James D. Devine, to provide asset management, leasing and advisory services to numerous real estate ventures formed by Mr. Gross and Mr. Devine.
Prior to the formation of Newcastle in 1989, Mr. Gross was a co-founder/owner of Superior Investment and Development Corporation (SIDCOR), which was engaged in commercial real estate investment, financing, development, property management and leasing activities.
Over the past 40 years, Mr. Gross has been a Principal in the acquisition, ownership, development, management, leasing and financing of a diverse real estate portfolio consisting of 124 properties, containing in excess of 6.5 Million square feet.
The portfolio has included hospitality, regional, community and neighborhood shopping centers, office buildings, corporate centers, industrial warehouses, parking garages, senior housing facilities, multi-family residential, land, and single tenant net leased properties. Current ownership encompasses more than 80 properties in 23 States, comprising in excess of 3 Million square feet.
Mr. Gross holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from New York University and has completed post-graduate courses in the field of real estate and securities placement. He is also a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers.
He has been involved in numerous professional, civic and philanthropic activities, including the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanford, Washington and One Million Degrees, which provides Chicago-area community college students with the critical resources needed to succeed.
John E. Gross
CEO / Principal
James D. Devine
Principal (Retired)
Mr. Devine is a founding Principal of Newcastle Properties, LLC and President of NORCOR Investments, Inc., both full service real estate investment companies specializing in major commercial properties throughout the United States.
Prior to the formation of Newcastle and NORCOR, Mr. Devine was President and co-founder of Superior Investment and Development Corporation (SIDCOR), and in such capacity supervised operation of a 3+ million sq. ft. real estate portfolio as well as acquisition and development, management or leasing activities on a variety of real estate projects with a gross leasable area in excess of 15 million square feet
Prior to co-founding SIDCOR in 1980, Mr. Devine was employed by Arthur Rubloff & Company, where he served as Vice President of Real Estate Development, Vice President of the Retail Properties Group. At Rubloff, he specialized in the acquisition, investment and development of commercial properties. Mr. Devine has also served major corporations such as Wachovia Bank & Trust Co., U.S. Gypsum Co., and Carson Pirie Scott & Company in a consulting capacity with respect to major commercial real estate transactions. Mr. Devine has been a lecturer and instructor at various trade association seminars and has served as an expert witness in several Federal Court cases in the area of commercial real estate practice He is also a former Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, having served with distinction in the Atlantic, Pacific and Southeast Asia. Mr. Devine is a Disabled Veteran from military service in the Makong Delta of Vietnam and received a Naval Commendation Medal and other awards for combat in the service of our country
Mr. Devine is a former member of the Illinois Bar and was a licensed real estate broker in Illinois. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Marquette University and Juris Doctorate Degree from Loyola University School of Law. He is also a former member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), the American, Illinois and Chicago Bar Associations, the National and Illinois Associations of Realtors, the Chicago Real Estate Board, and the Real Estate Securities and Syndication Institute. Mr. Devine is also on the Real Estate Property/ Committee/Chicago Metro Division of The Salvation Army, and a Founding Member of The Center for Real Estate at Marquette University. Mr. Devine received the “Alumni of the Year” award in 2010 from Marquette University School of Business for service to the University
James D. Devine
Principal (Retired)
EXECUTIVE TEAM
Michael Horne
Senior Vice President
Michael Horne has over 30 years of executive level experience in the commercial real estate industry. Prior to joining Newcastle Properties, Mr. Horne was most recently Vice President at Imperial Realty Company, Regional Director at Sterling Organization, and President at HSS Partners. During his career, Mr. Horne has been involved in the development, acquisition and/or leasing of over 100 properties in 27 states, totaling over 8,500,000 square feet.
Working closely with the executive team at Newcastle Properties, Mr. Horne leads all leasing, acquisitions and marketing functions and is actively involved in planning portfolio wide redevelopment projects.
Mr. Horne is a graduate of Northwestern University, is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), is a member of the Chicago Area Shopping Center Owners (CASCO) and is a licensed Illinois real estate broker.
Michael Horne
Senior Vice President
Sean Devine
Senior Vice President
Sean Devine has been involved in the commercial real estate industry for over 20 years. Prior to joining Newcastle in 2016, Mr. Devine held senior level roles, primarily on the acquisitions side, with Centerpoint Properties Trust, RREEF and Brauvin Real Estate, among others. He has been directly involved with the acquisition of over $1 billion of retail, office, multi-family and industrial real estate across the United States and Canada.
At Newcastle Mr. Devine is actively involved in all aspects of the business including leasing and asset management of existing portfolio properties as well sourcing new investment opportunities.
Mr. Devine is a graduate of the University of Iowa and Loyola University of Chicago School of Law and is a licensed, non-practicing attorney. He is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and the Chicago Area Shopping Center Owners (CASCO) associations.
Sean Devine
Senior Vice President
Drew Trammell
Asset Manager
Drew Trammell began his commercial real estate industry career in 2010 as an Asset Manager at Mid-America Real Estate Group with Newcastle Properties as his primary client. In 2014, Drew joined Newcastle Properties as Asset Manager, responsible for managing day-to-day ownership responsibilities for commercial properties located in Chicago, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.
Previously, Drew was an educator initially teaching high school social studies in Washington, DC and then teaching GED students in Chicago through a UIC program while completing his Master’s degree.
Drew received his Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Secondary Education from Illinois State University, graduating magna cum laude and a Master of Arts degree in Real Estate at the University of Illinois – Chicago. He is a licensed Illinois Real Estate Managing Broker.