Those panelists were David Cohen, regional director of theNortheast for GE Real Estate; Mitchell Hersh, president and CEO ofMack-Cali Realty Corp.; Charles Klatskin, managingdirector-industrial for Jones Lang LaSalle; Ray Sohmer, seniormanaging director of CB Richard Ellis; and Peter Sudler, presidentof Sudler Management Corp. The discussion was moderated by EricPeterson, editor of Real Estate New Jersey.

Asked how New Jersey is coping with current conditions, Sudlerremarked bluntly, "the credit markets have gone to hell in ahandbasket. The office market is horrendous. The industrial marketis nothing to write home about. And retail is going to be disaster.While his company has had success in the data recovery market, "nowthat has gone off the page," Sudler said. "Right now everything ison hold. I don't see the bright light."

Hersh agreed that, "we are in the throes of a very significanteconomic downturn. There is no question this going to be a long,protracted period of first intermediation, then a rebuilding of oureconomy." He added that government intervention will help restoreconfidence, "but this problem is very serious and will take a longtime to fix."