Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) has done a remarkably poor job as a retailer since Sears and KMart merged. The company has suffered such poor results that it has begun to close stores. It has not been entirely explicit about what it will do with the real estate that it owns. Some is valuable. Some locations no longer have a Sears of KMart store.
Sears Holdings said it would hire a real estate specialist in an attempt to mine the value of the assets.
The company announced:
David Lukes has joined the company in its real estate business unit as president, real estate development. Mr. Lukes comes to Sears Holdings from Mall Properties, Inc. where he served as president and CEO of the privately owned $3 billion real estate firm.
In this new role, Mr. Lukes will lead the company’s effort to further develop certain of its real estate assets, including those real estate assets that are no longer in use as retail stores. Jeff Stollenwerck, president of the company’s real estate business unit, will continue in that role and oversee the traditional corporate real estate functions for Sears Holdings.