News
Sitting On Cash
October 10, 2012
| At Bisnow’s Chicago State of the Market last week, Jones Lang LaSalle CEO of markets Bill Krouch says companies are sitting on near-record levels of cash. They'd love a reason to spend, but right now, nobody is giving it to them. | ||
 |
||
| Bill says he wants to be an optimist but sees corporate confidence continuing to suffer due the slings and arrows of political and economic uncertainty. Over the past 12 months, growth projections for India, China, and Brazil have all been revised downward; Europe has its sovereign debt issues and a recessionary outlook; and at home, we’re facing a rising federal deficit and the upcoming fiscal cliff. Still, Bill notes, there will be less uncertainty after the election and hopefully Congress will have a mandate to tackle policy issues. | ||
|
||
 |
||
| In the short run, CBRE global president of transaction services Jack Durburg says uncertainty is a drag on growth. The election in the rear-view mirror would help, whatever the outcome. (We should just have the judges on The Voice pick someone and get it over with.) The euro zone needs certainty in the form of a plan to deal with its debt crisis, even if it isn’t perfect. And because of the lack of transparency in China, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions when slower-than-expected growth is reported. That said, Jack predicts the world might see a more normal recovery by 2014 or more likely 2015. Until then, the economic improvements we see will be gradual. | ||
|
||
 |
||
| Mid-America Asset Management principal Richard Spinell says US retail remains polarized. The top brands have done well in recent years, and so have the discounters, but the middle has been squeezed. Retail development is essentially at a standstill, and that isn’t going to change until consumer confidence re-asserts itself, which will only happen when unemployment goes down. | ||
 |
||
| Chicago Deputy Mayor Steven Koch was interviewed one-on-one by Pircher, Nichols & Meeks’ David Pezza. He says cities succeed because they’re places people want to live: the better place a city is to live, the easier it is to compete for that absolutely vital resource, human talent. He says he's also focused on making the city a place for business. For example, the number of required city licenses has been cut by 60%, and the much-hated head tax that businesses must pay is well on the way to being phased out. | ||
 |
||
| Fitzgerald Earles Architects and Associates came out in force: Bill Rossi, AJ Finn, Kari Jones, and Dan Earles. Projects by FEAA include designing the entire ninth floor (nearly 21k SF) of 300 W Adams for occupancy by software company If By Phone, a complete buildout of the 13k SF Diamond Headache Clinic, and interior and exterior design for the Edward Jenner Academy of the Arts public school in Chicago. | ||
 |
||
| We also snapped G3 Construction Group’s Bill Ziemek Jr, who was there with his son, Bear Construction’s Bill Ziemek III. That only goes to show that Bisnow events can be family events. | ||
