"There were immediate questions for the office sector, as well as for any travel or tourism impacted sector," NAREIT spokesman Jay Hyde tells GlobeSt.com. "Lodging REITS have been affected and given the questions and attention on those and other sectors, we have since modified our programming for the annual convention." Specifically, Hyde said that the association will have two general sessions on the impact of the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. The morning general session will examine the impact on each major REIT sector, particularly office and lodging. An afternoon general session will look at impact for the REIT industry overall. Issues to be discussed, Hyde said, include a potentially altered financing landscape, the situation regarding insurance and its availability, and property security.

NAREIT is going ahead with its conference to return to some sense of normalcy. "While we are mindful of the attack, we were heeding the call of [President Bush] that it's time for Americans to go back to work," says Hyde. NAREIT is the second major real estate related association to commit to holding its annual meeting in the aftermath of the attacks. The Mortgage Bankers Association of America has also said it is moving forward with its annual meeting, October 14 to 17 in Toronto. NAREIT has averaged about 1,200 in attendance at its annual meetings, and it will install newly elected officers including William Sanders, chairman and CEO of Security Capital Group Inc.; first vice chair Steven Roth, chairman and CEO of Vornado Realty Trust; second vice chair Douglas Crocker II, president and CEO of Equity Residential Properties; and treasurer Hamid Moghadam, president and CEO of AMB Property.