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Agree Realty
Richard Agree founded Agree Realty in 1971 as a privately held real estate development and management company.
Agree Realty
Richard Agree founded Agree Realty in 1971 as a privately held real estate development and management company. His son, Joey Agree, took over as Chief Executive Officer in 2010 after serving as President, and engineered the company's New York Stock Exchange listing in 1994. The family retains significant influence over the vehicle, but operates it as a fully institutionalized public corporation rather than a family office per se. Agree Realty focuses on single-tenant net-lease retail properties, where tenants sign long-term contracts covering taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs. The portfolio encompasses more than 2,100 properties across 49 states, anchored by investment-grade retailers. Confirmed tenants include Walmart, Dollar General, TJX Companies, Tractor Supply, Best Buy, and Wawa, among dozens of others. The strategy actively avoids malls, office buildings, and multi-tenant centers — it is a pure-play ground lease and net-lease retail vehicle. Geographic footprint spans the continental United States with negligible international exposure. In February 2024, the company raised its quarterly dividend for the 10th consecutive year and increased its annual acquisition guidance to roughly $1.3 billion in total investment volume, reflecting a strong capital position. March 2024 saw Agree sell $300 million in senior unsecured notes to refinance existing debt. The vehicle trades on the NYSE under ticker ADC and reports a forward equity market capitalization in the mid-single-digit billions, with a total enterprise value materially higher when accounting for its conservative leverage profile. Agree Realty is architecturally distinct from peers such as Realty Income or National Retail Properties in one specific way: it operates an in-house development and Partner Capital Solutions program that originates build-to-suit projects for its own balance sheet. This forward-funding capability allows tenants to expand without third-party developers, giving Agree a pipeline that most net-lease REITs do not replicate internally. The Agree family's equity stake remains a meaningful governance feature, but the vehicle is fully governed by an independent board and SEC filing requirements.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
1971
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Royal Oak
Corporate office
Royal Oak, MI, United States
Principals
Joey Agree
President and Chief Executive Officer
Richard Agree
Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who makes investment decisions at Agree Realty?
Joey Agree has served as President and CEO since 2010, directing all acquisition and strategic decisions. He works alongside an experienced management team that includes a Chief Investment Officer and a Chief Operating Officer, with ultimate oversight from a board of directors comprising a majority of independent members. The founder, Richard Agree, remains involved as Chairman emeritus.
Does Agree Realty develop properties or only acquire existing ones?
Agree Realty maintains an in-house development and Partner Capital Solutions platform that originates build-to-suit projects for its own balance sheet, which is unusual among net-lease REITs. This capability lets tenants fund expansion through Agree rather than third-party developers, creating a proprietary pipeline. The company also acquires existing net-lease properties on the open market — these two channels operate in parallel.
What types of tenants does Agree Realty target?
Agree Realty focuses almost exclusively on investment-grade, single-tenant retail operators in necessity-based, e-commerce-resistant categories. Its largest tenant concentrations include Walmart, Tractor Supply, Dollar General, and Best Buy — retailers that serve everyday consumer needs and face limited direct threat from Amazon. The firm avoids multi-tenant retail, office, industrial, and hospitality properties.
How does Agree Realty structure its tenant leases?
Virtually all leases are triple-net or double-net contracts where the tenant bears responsibility for real estate taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs. Most leases include built-in contractual rent escalations, which provide organic growth in cash flow without requiring new acquisitions. Ground leases represent a meaningful and growing subset of the portfolio.
Is Agree Realty considered a family office?
No. Although founded and still closely associated with the Agree family, the company is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) listed on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker ADC. It operates with an independent board, files quarterly SEC reports, and has hundreds of institutional public-market shareholders — structure, governance, and regulatory posture are entirely those of a public company.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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