"When we did the JFK Marriott in 1999 we came out of the groundat $22,000 per key," Mason says, referring to the cost of land perhotel room. "I don't think you could get close to that today. You'dbe looking at a 10% discount at least. Having a site next to aninternational airport doesn't mean much today."

In Manhattan, land for hotel development, if it were available,"would be $100,000-plus per key," Mason says, referring to the costper room. But even those numbers are shots in the dark, he adds."We don't know where the number is. It could be that you can't evenestablish a number today. We don't have a reasonable comp afterSept. 11 to say this is where land should trade."

Granite senior vice president Arthur Milstone likened landpricing for office space in today's market to placing the cartbefore the horse. "The land component is at the end, not thebeginning," he says. "You figure construction costs, rents,reasonable rates of return, and then you figure out where the landcan be priced."