Richard Ader, chairman and CEO of U.S. Realty Advisors, LLC, New York, N.Y.

   Richard Ader, chairman and CEO of New York, N.Y.-based U.S. Realty Advisors, LLC, says he sees a trend surfacing where more and more corporations are reviewing their options of retaining the real estate on their books. He cited Cracker Barrel, Sears and Kmart as examples of this general tendency.
   "Many big names are looking to sell off property and redeploy capital in both domestic and international markets," notes Ader. "There seems to be a lot of pressure coming from Wall Street these days encouraging corporations to look at the hidden value of the real estate that is on the books. It will become a groundswell, and it ultimately can improve stockholder value if a corporation gets rid of the real estate from its books and redeploys the capital into its core business."
   U.S. Realty Advisors is a privately-held financial services firm specializing in net lease real estate investment and advisory services. According to Ader, about 75 percent of the firm's business lies within the sale/leaseback and net lease arenas. Ader says that U.S. Realty Advisors, whose current portfolio of corporate real estate assets is valued at more than $2.5 billion, focuses on structuring transactions to meet clients' unique requirements and objectives.
   "We are very flexible. For example, we are currently completing a transaction with a large utility on the West Coast where they are the tenant in the building with a purchase option. We are exercising the purchase option on their behalf and we are entering into a new lease with them," says Ader.