Debt Questions Cloud Clear Picture

SAN FRANCISCO-The Bay Area commercial real estate market has been rolling along nicely as of late. Generally speaking, vacancy rates are on the decline, rental rates are on the rise and new development is in the offing. That having been said, the debt side has muddied the waters for everyone involved.

Adding some clarity next week will be Alec Burger, head of North America Lending for GE Real Estate, a division of GE Commercial Finance, which boasts assets of more than $217 billion. Burger will be a keynote speaker at RealShare San Francisco, a half-day commercial real estate networking conference on Wednesday, Dec. 5, that will cover the future of San Francisco proper and its interconnectivity with markets in the greater Bay Area, including Silicon Valley, Palo Alto, Oakland and Walnut Creek.

“We were lucky with Burger; he’s a senior guy at GE Real Estate and given what’s going on with credit crunch, he’s a timely guy to have,” says Rich Kelley, director of the RealShare conference series, which puts on events year-round, all across the country. “All of our debt and equity sessions have been packed as everybody tries to get a handle on what the credit crunch means for the short term and the long term, including how it will impact the investment sales market going forward.”