SIOR-NJ Names New Leadership Slate

PARSIPPANY, NJ-Even as some members anticipate a continuing slow recovery in commercial real estate for 2012, Mitchell Katz, managing director of Newmark Knight Frank in Rutherford, NJ, has been named 2012 president of SIOR-NJ. He’ll lead a new team of officers at the New Jersey Chapter of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors.

Joining Katz are: VP Ian Grusd, managing director of Sperry Van Ness in Iselin; secretary Chris Galiano, managing director at NAI DeLio-Bram in Piscataway; and Rick Heilmann, principal at Arlington Group Real Estate in Red Bank.

“I am looking forward to maintaining the momentum created under immediate past president Andy Zezas,” Katz said in a statement. “This opportunity to engage other professionals in meaningful way, whether in one-on-one or small group discussions, enables our members to maintain their status as leaders in the industry and sustain long and prosperous careers.”

The group also plans to add new events, including an educational component that will help fulfill a continuing education requirement to maintain New Jersey licensing.

“We’re going to focus on working with SIOR national career seminars for the benefit for all brokers,” says Scott Peck, a senior vice president at Resource Realty and SIOR director of external communications.

The chapter will also reinstate an event for Habitat for Humanity, where members will gather to build a house.

Sponsorship of the chapter’s activities continues to be strong, reports Stan Kurzweil, SVP of Cassidy Turley, and chair of the SIOR-NJ’s sponsorship committee.

“We’ve been very fortunate with having a relationship with our sponsors,” Kurzweil says. “We’re at the top of our game, with a [member] retention of 99%, and being a member is not inexpensive. Most nonprofits are down at least 15% to 20%. That says it all.”

But no one anticipates a boom in 2012, at least until after the US presidential election is decided.

“A lot of business is being done now, with three-quarters of them being renewals,” Kurzweil says. Tenants in the office sector will continue to flee to quality as job growth remains slow, Peck adds.

Holiday sales will have an impact on the industrial market, Peck continues. But retail also remains a challenge for the entrepreneurs who take the smaller flex space in the market, depressing prices.

“It will be slow,” Peck says. “We will see flat pricing levels until we get through this thing.”