Rogg will head the Orlando team dealing exclusively with institutional investors interested in acquiring industrial and office properties, according to a prepared statement from his office.
His past clients are the Praedium Funds, Goldman Sachs, General American Life Insurance Co., Lend Lease Real Estate Investments and Equity Office Properties of Chicago.
Rogg's new appointment comes as Grubb & Ellis Co., a competitor, reports first-half investment sales in Orange, Seminole, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties are down 33% from last year. Institutional buyers closed on $399 million in properties from January to June compared to $590 million in the same 2001 period.
George D. Livingston, Central Florida chapter president of NAIOP and chairman/founder of Realvest Properties Inc., Maitland, FL, isn't overly worried about the lower investment sales numbers.
"This is not the 1992 real estate market crash again," Livingston tells GlobeSt.com. "Vacancy rates are roughly the same, but their decline has been from a market in balance with a mild recession as the driver, rather than driven by a recession on top of a serious overbuilt situation."
Livingston tells GlobeSt.com "a double-dip recession is not likely." He says the office market indicators are "still negative and no meaningful recovery is likely under after mid-year 2003."
The broker says "niche markets, such as medical and biotech, are outperforming the broader speculative measures." He says the Total Industrial Production Index is slightly improving.
"If this trend persists, demand for manufacturing space will improve," Livingston predicts. "Demand for properties lags positive market pressures."
He sees the consolidation of large distribution space continuing. "Supply chain economics and logistic companies are emerging as major drivers in site selection decisions," the broker tells GlobeSt.com. "Higher consumption as the economy improves will increase the demand for warehouse space."
Despite a generally gloomy public perception of the economy, "things are improving," Livingston says. "The wild card is the war against terrorism."
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