Speakers Warn Against Unbridled Enthusiasm

PHILADELPHIA-Nearly all sectors of the commercial real estate market throughout the Philadelphia MSA have experienced growth in the past year and are expected to continue to make gains, according to a majority of speakers at the fifth annual RealShare Philadelphia conference. But many also acknowledged signs of a looming slowdown in some sectors and markets.

More than 500 of the region’s top real estate industry executives gathered at the Philadelphia conference to hear the less-than-rosy news. RealShare Philadelphia, along with other RealShare events nationwide, is produced by Real Estate Media, publishers of GlobeSt.com, GlobeSt.RETAIL, Real Estate Forum magazine and other print and online publications devoted to commercial real estate.

Arguing that we are in a cycle, not a new economy or new paradigm, speaker Dean Adler, CEO and founder of Lubert-Adler, kicked off the conference at the Doubletree Hotel by saying, “There’s too much money. Lenders will finance anyone. There’s a lot of short-term thinking for long-term investments.” He called for a “reality check.”