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NEW YORK CITY-The past year was split down the middle by the debt crisis, with New York City's real estate market facing very different challenges before and after that crisis emerged. So said panelists at yesterday's Real Estate Board of New York members' luncheon, where Mary Ann Tighe, CEO of the New York Tristate region for CB Richard Ellis, moderated the discussion, which drew about 600 attendees.

In the first two quarters of 2007, the challenge was to compete for properties, noted David Levinson, chairman and CEO of L&L Holdings. In the third and fourth quarters, the challenges have all stemmed from the debt crisis--a theme taken up in a variety of ways by Levinson's colleagues on the Rebny panel, "Negotiating in an Uncertain Market."

For example, Daniel Tishman, chairman of CEO of Tishman Construction Corp., said '07 marked the first year in which he was not sure whether to define his outlook as representing either a half-full glass or a half-empty one. He added, however, that the smartest real estate organizations are able to take periods of uncertainty in stride. "If you're in it for the long haul, it's fairly easy to even out the peaks and troughs," Tishman said.