Garo Kholamian is the President, CEO, and sole shareholder of GK Real Estate. Since the formation of the GK Real Estate in 1994, Garo and his affiliated entities have acquired and developed over 120 million square feet of commercial property throughout the United States including retail centers, apartments, office buildings, self-storage facilities and other commercial properties that total over $1.2 billion in transactions. He has purchased, and built, in markets and metropolitan areas across the country with a current portfolio of property in eight states. Prior to forming GK Real Estate, Garo was Senior Vice President of Development for Homart Development Co., a national developer of shopping centers and office buildings. Prior to his real estate career, he was an architect in the state of Illinois.
Garo holds a Master’s Degree in Business from Loyola University of Chicago, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers, and a licensed real estate broker in Illinois.
Sherry Mast is the Principal – Asset Management at GK Real Estate. Sherry joined GK in 1997 shortly after its inception in 1994 and has become an integral part of GK’s history and success. She oversees all day-to-day operations and leasing for the company’s entire portfolio as well as managing outside broker relationships. She has established and implemented property management and financial systems throughout the GK portfolio.
Prior to joining GK Real Estate, Sherry was Marketing Manager for Karp’s, a nationally recognized bakery supply company, where she was responsible for new product development, creating bakery supply solutions for national retailers. Sherry earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Corporate Communications from Northern Illinois University, is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers, and is a licensed real estate broker in Illinois.
Steve Higdon is the Chief Financial Officer at GK Real Estate. He brings over 36 years of corporate finance, capital markets, investment banking and accounting experience to the team. As CFO, Steve is primarily responsible for managing the company's finances, including; financial and tax planning, treasury management and investing, internal financial controls, risk management, and financial reporting. He supervises the accounting and finance departments. He is the financial spokesperson for the company while being fully integrated on the real estate development, property and leasing operations, acquisitions/dispositions teams, and is a key member in fund/bond administration for all Req A and Reg D Offerings. He leads the internal audit as well as the external SEC driven audit & legal teams.
Prior to joining GK-Real Estate in 2020, Steve was the CFO of a high net-worth private family office, Aegis Asset Management, based out of New York. He provided strategic investment, financial and asset management insight and analysis to a $2Bn nationwide portfolio of office/retail/industrial properties. While there, his primary focus was on driving the real estate business intelligence capabilities of the Family Office and the third-party teams to increase the property and portfolio NOI, accretive value and income tax mitigation with a longer-term legacy hold mindset.
Steve holds a Bachelor’s Degree in both Accounting and Finance from Illinois State University (1983-1988). Steve earned his license as a Certified Public Accountant in 1988, but is currently non-practicing.
John A. Benson, Jr. is Corporate Counsel at GK Real Estate. As Corporate Counsel, John provides legal advice and support to GK’s team and oversees GK’s real estate transactions and legal affairs. In this role, John works to develop and implement the strategy of the GK team and support GK’s nationwide real estate portfolio, including the drafting and negotiation of GK’s leasing, acquisitions, dispositions, and financing documentation.
Prior to joining GK Real Estate in 2021, John practiced with law firms in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs for over 14 years, where he gained significant experience by representing lenders, real estate, and other business clients on a wide range of real estate and finance related matters. John also has significant experience in commercial litigation, workouts, and insolvency matters.
John earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Miami University and holds his Juris Doctor from The John Marshall Law School.
Jaime Gudino is the Human Resource Generalist at GK Real Estate. She is responsible for all aspects of human resources and recruiting for the company. This includes recruiting, training, payroll, performance management, and anything and everything else that comes up. She is the glue holding us all together.
Prior to joining GK Real Estate in 2017, Jaime has provided human resources and recruiting in the retail and vending industries. She has an extensive background as a human resource partner with all levels of management and employees, as well as substantial experience in customer service.
Jaime earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Human Resources from Northern Illinois University. She is also a Society for Human Resources Certified Professional (SHRM-CP).
James Kholamian is the Vice President of Equity Capital Markets at GK Real Estate. James manages GK’s current and legacy investment offerings and relations with investors. In this role, he works to integrate the structuring of new investment offerings with the core real estate strategy of the GK team. James works to raise capital with a wide network of broker dealers, retail investors, family offices and institutional groups. In combination with efforts to raise capital, James monitors and reports on the performance of GK’s existing offerings. As part of GK’s capital markets strategy, James manages a National Sales and Wholesaling team to assist in raising capital.
Prior to joining GK Real Estate in 2017, James worked at CBRE on the Urban Retail Team, specializing in landlord and tenant representation of retail space in downtown Chicago and high-street retail markets throughout the United States. James worked on the Willis Tower redevelopment with Blackstone, the Starbucks Reserve store on Michigan Avenue and the Shake Shack store expansion in the Chicagoland area.
James earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from DePaul University.
Evan Shtulman is the Vice President of Leasing at GK Real Estate. Evan oversees the retail leasing and development of the GK portfolio and manages the leasing team. During his tenure at GK, Evan has negotiated hundreds of leases and renewals with national, local, and regional tenants including: Sprouts Farmers Market, TJMaxx, Marshalls, Ross, PetSmart, JCPenney, Scheels Sporting Goods, AMC, Planet Fitness, and others. He has done ground leases and build to suits with Chick-fil-A, Texas Roadhouse, Olive Garden and Starbucks. He has amended and restated Operating Agreements and Reciprocal Easement Agreements with anchor owners across the portfolio. He is also involved in current redevelopment projects including converting our existing mall projects into mixed-use projects, which include multi-family, office, hospitality, and industrial uses. He has worked with municipalities on re-zoning and entitlements, and tax increment financing.
Prior to joining GK Real Estate in 2013, Evan worked at Tucker Development as a leasing associate, responsible for leasing Tucker’s entire portfolio including: 8 grocery and Walmart- anchored shopping centers in Illinois, an enclosed mall in Michigan, and a new ground up hotel development with retail space in New Jersey.
Evan earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign.
