Sean Ryan is associate editor of Real Estate New Jersey.

EDISON, NJ-The current financial climate is making public-to-private conversions more of a workable idea. A panel of experts discussed the matter at a New Jersey chapter meeting of Naiop yesterday here.

The past few months has seen a wave of public companies going private like never before. Private companies do not need to be as transparent in their financial dealings as public companies, and do not need to be so open with their business strategies. The Blackstone Group's $39-billion acquisition of Equity Office Properties Trust showed that there is no upper limit to these transactions.

It's tougher to make a great deal of money off local buildings than is has been in the past, said George Sowa, EVP and senior managing director of Brandywine Realty Trust. Thanks to tenants' better utilization of their existing space, a lack of new job growth and new development, some of it speculative, the margins are not comfortable.

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