RealShare EXCLUSIVE: Development Plan, Home Rule, Corruption, Remain Challenges

TEANECK, NJ-Managing growth and channeling it back into New Jersey’s urban centers will take public-private partnership. They will have to both develop regulations and provide investment dollars. That was one of the threads that wove through the 3rd Annual RealShare New Jersey, a day-long series of panel discussions involving some of the state’s top real estate, finance and legal professionals as well as key state government officials. Real Estate Media Inc., publisher of GlobeSt.com, Real Estate Forum and Real Estate New Jersey produced the event, which was sponsored by 32 real estate and related companies active in the state.

The challenges of managed growth include balancing the development approaches of individual municipalities with the need for a state growth-management plan in this home-rule state. Luncheon speaker US Attorney for the District of New Jersey Christopher J. Christie said the state also faces challenges from terrorism and government corruption.

Keynote speaker State Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Susan Bass Levin started the day off, after a welcome from Real Estate Media president and CEO Jonathan A. Schein, urging the audience to get involved in the cross-acceptance process for the new development plan now being formulated in Trenton. “We need a smart growth process in New Jersey. We cannot afford another recession like the early 1990s in this state.”