expected to ride out the storm, although it still wasn’t able to avoid
the cold that other sectors experienced in Q4 2008.
Hughes was joined by panelists including Robert Hart, president of Kennedy Wilson Multifamily; Michael Rovner, president of
Rovner Construction Co.; Thomas Shelton, president of Western
National Property Management; and Kitty Wallace, a senior vice
president at Sperry Van Ness.
Bernard Haddigan, senior vice president and managing director
of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, addressed
distressed commercial real estate, and separated the myths from reality in his afternoon keynote address. “There are safe bets still trading, and distressed inventory is set to rise,” Haddigan explained.
He called the present the “best buying opportunity of your lives,”
and added that strategy should be driving the buying focus.
The spirit continued throughout the day, in panels like “Industry
Leaders Crossfire: Will There Be Zen in 2010?,” which was moderated by Lew Feldman, partner and Los Angeles office chair of
Goodwin Procter LLP. Bruce Mosler, president and CEO of Cushman and Wakefield, summed up the global economic situation,
saying that the most significant issue is unemployment. “The government has to focus on job stimulus across the board,” he said.
Bill Halford, president and CEO of Bixby Land Co., offered his
grim outlook for 2009 and beyond. “My view is you’re going to see
very little to no liquidity in ’09 and the most brave investors [will]
start to enter the market in 2010,” he said. “The reality is there’s
more to come in terms of value decline in 2009.”
Other panelists included John Burns, president of John Burns
Real Estate Consulting, and Thompson National Properties LLC
chairman and CEO Tony Thompson, who reported that the past
few weeks have been among the best TNP has seen in the past year
in terms of raising funds in preparation for the distressed opportunities that are sure to come.
Closing the day was Alexandra Glickman, area vice chairman of
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., who spoke on the real insurance risk
in 2009. It was followed by a panel titled “Capital Markets: Recapitalization, Workouts and Restructures,” in which moderator Gary
Tenzer, principal and senior director with George Smith Partners,
did his best to fish for some optimism from the participants.
Panelists included: Maura O’Connor, a partner in Seyfarth Shaw;
Jess Bressi, a partner with Cox Castle & Nicholson; Bill Hughes,
managing director of Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp.; Scott Bottles, managing director of Wells Fargo Bank; and Ryan Krauch, a
principal with Mesa West Capital.
The Real Estate 2009 conference is one of an annual schedule of
RealShare events that are produced by Incisive Media, publisher of
REAL ESTATE FORUM, Real Estate Southern California, GlobeSt.com and
a host of other offerings. Incisive Media is a leading provider of specialized business information for commercial real estate, legal, financial services, risk management and marketing professionals. —SOCAL
Additional reporting was provided by Bob Howard and Don Jergler.
