To get a retail deal done these days five parties with different needs must come to a compromise. Those five disparate parties generally involved in large retail lease or sales transactions join forces on a May 20 panel at RECon titled: "Seal the Deal: Brokers and Managers Working Together."

Mez Birdie, director of retail investment services at NAI/Realvest, based in Orlando, is the moderator and also represents the broker participant on the panel. The others are Bill Goeke, VP and director, Weingarten Realty, representing an owner; Bill Brickman, real estate manager for Yum! Brands, speaking for a retailer; Joe Edens III, VP of property management for Edens & Avant, and Mary Drury, a retail specialist attorney in the Las Vegas-based law firm of Marquis & Aurbach.

“All five of us have different needs, and they sometimes conflict with the other participants in a deal,” Birdie explains to GlobeSt.com. “It’s always good to work together in a harmonious relationship, and that is especially so in challenging times. Working together can help seal a deal faster and more often than if each one works separately.”

The session will begin with a brief introduction by each panelist, who will discuss his or her individual challenges in negotiating a transaction and air their separate “hot buttons,” Birdie says. That will be followed by a free flowing discussion among them on areas of potential compromise.

“Learning what each other has to offer allows brokers and managers the opportunity to create an attractive deal for the potential tenant and/or buyer,” Birdie suggests and notes, “the retailer is key; that’s the customer.” While discussing and exploring the various factors involved in creating the perfect relationship between a leasing agent/broker and property manager, the panelists will also discuss the differences between a property manager and an asset manager and how they play a part in the deal negotiations.

Once the panelists have shed light on how they reach agreement on complicated sale and lease transactions, the session will open up to what Birdie expects to be “a lively Q and A.” He says the panelists will welcome examples of tough negotiations from people in the audience and their insight on how challenges were met and compromises were reached.