recessionmode, the message delivered at NAIOP's New Jersey "TenantRetention In Trying Times" seminar was marked not by doom andgloom, but rather what can we do better.

Panel moderator Bob Palestri, a partner with the PropertyInstitute, emphasized this point by noting that "there are notrying times, only those who chose to sit on the sidelines."He--along with panelists Glenn Buie of First Industrial RealtyTrust; John Marazzo of Mack-Cali Realty Corp.; Seena Stein ofNewmark Knight Frank; Michael Schofel of Eastman Co.; and AndrewZezas, SIOR, of Real Estate Strategies Corp.--then proceeded to layout a plan for keeping tenants in place, whether it be throughtenant surveys, selecting the proper employees or investing more intenant retention budgets.

While many of the questions posed elicited a variety ofdifferent responses, the takeaway was communication. "Many of usdon't know who property managers are…they are not who we first dealwith," says Stein. "In this time of horror, it's important that weall hear and know what tenants want. We must maintain arelationship of trust. During the last economic downturn, tenantsremembered which brokers hurt them."