Bisacquino: Gov't Inaction Keeps CRE 'In Low Gear'

WASHINGTON, DC-With President Barack Obama preparing to deliver an “optimistic” message in his State of the Union address to Congress Tuesday evening, his counterpart at NAIOP noted that government inaction has hurt the industry's recovery. “As we look toward 2014, the commercial real estate development industry is unfortunately not as strong as it should be, and part of that has to do with what's happening—or not happening—in our nation's capital,” Thomas J. Bisacquino, NAIOP's president and CEO, said Monday.

Bisacquino noted that “budget brinksmanship and inability to find common ground on important issues like the budget, tax policy, energy efficiency in buildings, and terrorism risk insurance for commercial real estate has kept our industry running in low gear.”  It's costing costing jobs and growth, he added.

Pointing out that CRE is “an inherent part of our culture,” Bisacquino said that the core of our industry's success is being able to take the long view. “But that view is nearly impossible to see due to the uncertainty surrounding all of these pressing policy matters,” he said.

He expressed the hope that Obama would “take this historic opportunity in his second term to bring more clarity to these and other issues, so that our industry can start doing what it does best: investing dollars, developing projects and creating millions more jobs for Americans. If we want to bring more Americans back to work, we have to get Washington working again.”

Bisacquino said the association looks forward to hearing what the President has to say, “and we are equally interested in what he plans to do. We stand ready to work with him, the Congress, and with policymakers at the state and local level in 2014 to make sure we are doing all we can to fully unlock the economic potential of commercial real estate.”

In an email to Obama supporters this past weekend, Dan Pfeiffer, senior White House adviser, wrote that the State of the Union address would be “an optimistic speech.” Pfeiffer wrote that Obama would “lay out a set of real, concrete, practical proposals to grow the economy, strengthen the middle class and empower all who hope to join it.

In what Pfeiffer termed “this year of action,” Obama will “seek out as many opportunities as possible to work with Congress in a bipartisan way. But when American jobs and livelihoods depend on getting something done, he will not wait for Congress.

“President Obama has a pen and he has a phone, and he will use them to take executive action and enlist every American—business owners and workers, mayors and state legislators, young people, veterans, and folks in communities from across the country—in the project to restore opportunity for all,” Pfeiffer continued.

Following the State of the Union address, Obama will begin a two-day trip through Prince George's County in Maryland, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Nashville in support of his agenda. Upon his returns to the White House, the President will outline new efforts to help the long-term unemployed, Pfeiffer wrote.