Jerry Sweeney of Brandywine Realty

Jerry Sweeney is staying ahead of his market. The president and CEO of Brandywine Realty Trust, based in Plymouth Meeting, PA, boasts a portfolio that is roughly 92% leased–in a market laboring under a 16% vacancy rate. The REIT also scored a big win late last year when international law firm Dechert LLP inked a 245,000-sf lease at Brandywine’s still-under-construction Cire Centre, a 28-story, 727,000-sf building adjacent to Philadelphia’s 30th Street Amtrak station. The firm also marked 2003–a year in which it logged revenues just north of $300 million–with a JV-ownership agreement with Sydney-based Macquarie as that Australian investment firm seeks inroads to US holdings. And it’s been a year of controversy as well as Brandywine engages in the debate over the proper use of incentive zones to build and retain business in the still-troubled Philadelphia office market. In a recent, exclusive interview with GlobeSt.com, Sweeney weighed in on the hotly debated Keystone Opportunity Zone issue and shared his thoughts on the direction of the market through the rest of the year.

GlobeSt.com: How does 2004 look in terms of revenue growth vis a vis market performance?

Sweeney: We’ll do a little better than we did in 2003, but real estate markets being what they are, we’re projecting minimal revenue growth in ’04. We do anticipate that the markets will start to recover a bit toward the latter part of the year. It’s tough to project when things will turn because so much of the office business is pure reaction to general economic conditions. Right now, though, the overall psychology seems positive and job growth, while still anemic, is positive too. More tenants are looking at longer-term planning options, which is very positive. But how those things will converge to create a stronger marketplace and increased levels of leasing and net absorption remains to be seen.