Principals from the four firms decided to embark on thisoffering because they realized they have complimentary skills--aswell as a large number of borrower and lender clients that eitherhave or will have distressed CRE assets, Greg Leisch, CEO of DeltaAssociates, tells GlobeSt.com.

He declines to discuss client specifics, such as contracts inthe pipeline, other than to say the concept has been well receivedby each company's respective client base. DART will be national inscope, although more than likely it will have a large number of DCarea-based clients, given that the principals are based here. Butnot all clients will be local, Leisch says. "I was just on thephone with a New York bank that has an asset outside of Washingtonand that is not atypical of what we are doing."

DC has survived relatively unscathed from the credit crunch andrecession thus far--and will likely recover sooner than mostmarkets, Leisch says. But there are definitely rocky times in storefor the market: Leisch estimates that the DC area will see $1billion in commercial real estate defaults by the end of Q1,primarily by developers that were unable to refinance. Currently aminiscule $350 million of assets have defaulted. By the end of theyear, that number could reach $4 billion. Leisch bases hisestimates on proprietary Delta Associates research.