Phoenix Emerging From California's Shadow

PHOENIX-Blasting myths, supporting trends and determining if the Phoenix metro could conceivably become the next Inland Empire were among the many topics explored at yesterday’s second annual RealShare Phoenix.

Concurrent sessions covered the latest in multifamily trends, identifying opportunities in an extraordinarily active market and updates in office leasing and capital availability. Meanwhile a trend-oriented town hall meeting explored facts and fiction about the market, with a focus on the West Valley. RealShare Phoenix, 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.

The conference opened with a “fact or fiction” session, answering questions about if $45-plus per sf leases will emerge in the Camelback submarket and if the new Arizona State University campus and planned light rail would revitalize the CBD. Lincoln Property Co. executive vice president David Krumwiede and Alter Group senior vice president Kurt Rosene took different sides on the issue that Phoenix was on a fast track to becoming the next Inland Empire. Neither denied that, for various reasons, the industrial market is enjoying a boom.