Net Lease Opportunities Diversify

NEW YORK CITY-The more than 200 industry professionals confirmed to attend Wednesday’s RealShare Net Lease conference have a more diversified array of net lease market opportunities to consider, conference producer Jill Seiman tells GlobeSt.com. “It’s no longer just office; now there are net lease offerings in retail” and other property types, she says.

The conference, scheduled to get under way at 8:30 a.m. at the Marriott Marquis, 1535 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, will provide industry professionals with both general market knowledge and insights into key subjects related to net lease. It will draw on the expertise of panelists in the net lease, capital markets and real estate services sectors. “People want to be aware of where these trusted market advisors think the market is going and where the opportunities are,” says Seiman.

An article in the November 2010 issue of Real Estate Forum—sister organization to both GlobeSt.com and the RealShare Conference Series—highlighted both the increasing diversity of net lease product offerings and the challenges facing the market, helping set the tone for this year’s conference. “In markets like this, everybody goes toward quality,” meaning top-credit tenants in strong urban markets, Jonathan Hipp, president and CEO of Calkain Cos., told REF last fall. “The tertiary markets are selling, but the ones that are getting the most aggressive pricing and the highest number of buyers chasing the same asset” are the premium-grade properties. Hipp will be among the experts taking the stage at the Marriott Marquis on Wednesday.

Such trophy assets have been relatively few and far between regardless of asset class, and so investors “happen to be sitting on a lot of cash, waiting for opportunities,” says Seiman. The net lease market represents one possible venue for finding those opportunities, especially for investors who like stability and dependable income streams.

However, with “a tremendous amount of cap rate volatility” in net lease, Seiman thinks the “Debt Financing in Today’s Market” panel will be particularly useful to attendees. Among other things, the panel will help provide clarity on the cost of financing for net lease investments.

With non-traded REITS “a hot topic right now,” Wednesday’s conference will devote a panel to this class of REITs and their relevance to net lease. Hipp, who’s also a blogger for GlobeSt.com, will moderate.

Seiman cites the opening keynote address of Thomas Sittema, who became CEO of CNL Financial Group in October 2009, as another highlight. And she points to the group of real estate veterans who will assemble for the “Town Hall Meeting: State of the Net lease Market” panel. With Jeff Hughes, senior director at the Stan Johnson Co., as moderator, the panel includes Trevor Bond, president, CEO and board member at W.P. Carey & Co.; Paul McDowell, CEO of CapLease Inc.; Gordon Whiting, founder and senior portfolio manager for net lease real estate strategy at Angelo, Gordon & Co.; and Steven Maloy, SVP and director of acquisitions at ARC Properties Inc.

A cocktail and networking reception follows the concluding panel, and there will also be a giveaway during the conference as well as further post-conference networking opportunities through RealShare Connect. Click here to get more details about RealShare Net Lease and to register for the conference.