James Schutter joined Newmark’s Chicago office in 2008 as a Senior Managing Director. He has more than 30 years of retail brokerage experience and his primary focus is furthering Newmark’s retail services platform in the Midwest. Schutter works with a dedicated team of brokers specializing in retail agency representation, tenant representation, and retail-related brokerage services, focusing on both urban and suburban properties in the Chicago market.
During his career, Schutter has represented a wide range of retail property owners including Murphy Real Estate Services, Manulife Financial, Prudential, Marc Realty, Intercontinental Real Estate, The Lynmark Group, and Sperry Equities. He has also completed lease negotiations with a wide variety of retail tenants ranging from small shop to anchor tenants including Citi Bank, Burlington, Walgreens, Panera Bread Company, Fresh Thyme, Starbucks, AT&T, Chase, McDonald’s, Trader Joe’s, Museum of Illusions, Bright Horizons, Bank of America, LA Fitness, Michaels, Home Depot, Bob’s Discount Furniture, and Jewel Foods. He has also restructured leases with a variety of tenants including Kmart and Best Buy.
Prior to joining Newmark, Schutter held the position of Vice President at M & J Wilkow, Ltd., where he was responsible for a retail portfolio that consisted of over 5 million square feet of retail space. He was also in charge of retail brokerage services which encompassed tenant representation, leasing, lease restructuring, and land sales. He started his retail brokerage career at CBRE, where he was a Senior Associate, specializing in all aspects of retail brokerage services.
Professional Achievements and Involvements
Schutter holds the CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) designation from the Commercial Investment Real Estate Institute, is the former president of the Illinois CCIM Chapter, a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers, and a licensed real estate broker. He was also 2013, 2014, and 2018 recipient of CoStar’s Power Broker award for retail leasing transactions in the Chicago market.
Areas of Specialization
- Retail Agency Representation
- Retail Tenant Representation
- Retail Investment Sales
- Lease Restructuring
- Property Analysis
- Land Sales & Ground Leases
Education
Schutter holds an MBA in Real Estate Finance from DePaul
University, a BA in Psychology from Western Kentucky University and a
BA in Theater from Columbia College.