A town hall panel spoke of some of the less recognized markets in North America. Jim Dieter, executive managing director for CB Richard Ellis and moderator of the panel, brought up Hagerstown, MD and Orange County, NY, as expansion areas for the northeastern market. Greg Thurman, president of Panattoni Development Co., mentioned Toronto, the second largest distribution market in North America, as being comparable to New Jersey in terms of problematic developing. "There's land, but a lot of it is wet, protected and you'll never get it zoned."

Similarly, John Thomas, managing director for ING Clarion Partners, attested that Calgary, Austin, and the region north of Mexico City were all "harder than New Jersey" for developers. Local developer Gus Milano, executive vice president, finance and leasing, for Hartz Mountain Industries, enjoys the tough development areas, because it leads to more opportunities. "We like land constrained situations. The barriers to entry are what create value."

Stanley Danzing, executive director for Cushman & Wakefield, is seeing some of the distributors who had left northern New Jersey coming back. After balking at land prices and development problems, they've reaccessed their situations and "the extra costs seem to be justified." Danzig does suggest that other ports--such as Houston and Savannah--are due for increases because the major ports are running out of room. "There's a limit to how much you can stretch the envelope in L.A. and Newark."