CREW Rowing Hard

Jones Lang's Kathy Allgier had a hard act to follow when she succeeded SmithGroup's Elaine Gray (yep, Elaine’s left Cassidy) as CREW president, but the show is going on just great. Yesterday she brought the big guns in development to the Capital Hilton. We were afraid we had the wrong hotel because the normal room was empty. But that was because they could only fit the crowd of 200 in the ballroom down the hall.

Brookfield's Paul Schulman, Louis Dreyfus' Bob Braunohler, Tishman's Jim Evans, and MRP's Bob Murphy (here with CREW President-Elect and moderator Helen Haerle of Quadrangle and current CREW chief Kathy Allgier) each gave slide shows of their properties (after first showing that even men can't figure out how to use PowerPoint). To Helen's question of whether rents can keep going up, the refrain was "We sure hope so." Let's hear it for $200 gross rents in NYC—we can keep citing that to make DC seem a bargain.

Also at the Hilton were Cafritz Company CEO Marjorie Nesbitt,GSA's John Simeon (in charge of the DOT re-location near the stadium—does he get to give out views of the infield?), and Toni Aluisi of Structure Tone, Inc.

And last week, we dropped by the Willard for the debut event of a new CREW National Capital Committee, combining the leadership of the three regional chapters. Each had been formed separately around 25 years ago in recognition of distinct submarkets—and the difficulty of getting suburbanites downtown. But now members feel the booming and connected region makes boundaries obsolete. Next up: A golf expo March 26.

At the Willard, from left, Kimball Office's Elizabeth Hurley chairs Virginia CREW; Stark, Meyers, Eisler & Leatham's Erica Leathamchairs Maryland; Kathy Allgier chairs DC; and Lowe Enterprises'Eileen Circo, takes it all in as a CREW national board member.

Also attending: Graphics artist to the stars, Susan Denner ofCapital Design; Land America ace lawyer Jeanne LaBelle; formerCassidy research guru Mary Petersen; and Staubach hotshot broker Ellen Herman.