News
TALKIN’ BULL AND GROUNDHOGS
November 4, 2009
| Real estate's version of Punxsutawney Phil is Newmark Knight Frank CEO Barry Gosin. If he's upbeat, it means the market has changed. So says Vornado New York office prez David Greenbaum (we added the Punxsutawney analogy), who joined Barry, Miller Samuel CEO Jonathan Miller, and media maven moderator Michael Stoler on a panel at yesterday’s AREW luncheon. |
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| Though there’s still a rough road ahead, we did see glimpses of optimism from Barry, David, Michael, and Jonathan, here with Rhodes Associates’ Jane Lyons, Caran Properties’ Rebecca Mason(prez), Perkins+Will’s Debra Cole, and Newmark’s Robin Fisher. Tenant brokers are telling clients to lock in; activity levels are robust and deals are back now that we’ve hit clearing prices, David continues. Concessions will be the first to recede once owners start feeling good, Barry adds. And there’s been discussion in residential whether this is the bottom, although Jonathan says there are still wary lenders and condos that have yet to play out. |
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| An embarrassing moment when Barry thought someone accused him of being full of hot air, but they were talking to the balloon next to him. There’s no capital in the private market, but the public sector, which healed itself quickly, is a different story, David says. While the leasing market is moving due to pent-up demand, the buy side is still slow because banks are not lending in the near future. When the economy starts to recover, they will drop the fear threshold and we’ll see the billions out from the sidelines again. |
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| Want to do some good this holiday season? (Rhetorical question, we hope.) AREW’s Charitable Fund (its board pictured) is bringing back its annual Letters From Secret Santa drive to support the children of families at Women in Need, who will write letters to Santa requesting up to three desired gifts, each under $50. You purchase at least one item on the list, and bring it wrapped and labeled to AREW’s Dec. 10th luncheon or WIN’s offices. The program grew from 200 in ’07 to 260 in ’08, and even in the downturn, they hope this will be the best year yet. If interested, e-mail Horizon Land Services’ Stephanie Butler by Nov. 13. |
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| Akerman Senterfitt’s Wendy Rossi, NYU Schack Institute’s Stephanie Mendez, Teknion’s Julia Glazer, Columbia’s Tetiana Slupitska, and Teknion’s Robyn Baron. New AREW members Stephanie and Tetiana are both studying real estate development, while Wendy is a senior project manager who specializes in economic incentives, which help lower capital costs of projects. Speaking of projects, Julia reports that Teknion’s new showroom in Chelsea, under construction since June, is slated to open Nov. 19. |
