Co-moderating the session was a trio from SRZ: Jeffrey A. Lenobel, partner and chair of the real estate department; Gregory P. Pressman and Julian M. Wise, both real estate partners. Panelists included: Kent Daiber, senior managing director, CWCapital; Jeff Fastov, principal, Oasis Real Estate Partners; Adam Popper, managing director, Beacon Capital Partners; and Robert Rediker, director of asset management, Golden Tree InSite Partners.
The discussion kicked off with a question from Pressman: What signs will point that we are recovery? "We are not there yet. We are not even close," Daiber replied. "But pre-recovery, there are lots of opportunities."
Fastov said that when all parties come to a transaction "voluntarily and are happy to be there" is when a recovery has occurred. Popper noted that tenants have returned to the leasing market, sensing that rents have hit bottom. Investors are not at that point yet, he said, adding employment still needs to grow before rents increase.
Other topics explored during the hour-long webinar were: how will the logjam in the CMBS marketplace unravel and managing the difficulty of undertaking workouts with a multitude of debt holders. "I've never seen a scenario where more was better," Daiber said.
Speaking about the rash of retail closings, Rediker said that those that remain are the strongest. "The question is, how much overbuilt space do we have?" Daiber compared the current downturn to the one back in 2001-02. He said that this one is worse because of a complete lack of capital. "We've never had liquidity sucked out of the market entirely," he said.
A replay of the event will be available through Feb. 9, 2010 by clicking this link: http://www.globest.com/webinars/recovery/
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