Town Hall Meeting Generates Bullish Outlook

PHILADELPHIA-As insiders all over the country discuss the possibility of a recession, due to a turbulent capital market environment and residential fallout, Philadelphia experts believe that the Philadelphia region doesn’t always follow in lock-step with the rest of the country. Approximately 500 attendees joined RealShare’s Philadelphia conference Thursday, looking for answers during a time filled with a lack in clarity.

Glazer

During the general session Town Hall Meeting: The State of the Philadelphia Market, moderator Robert Walters, a senior managing director of CB Richard Ellis looked to panelists Jeff DeVuono, SVP and regional manager of Brandywine Realty Trust, David Fahey, president of the commercial division at Binswanger, Bill Glazer, president and founder of Keystone Property Group, James Mazzarelli, SVP and regional director of Liberty Property Trust, for their outlooks on where Philadelphia stands going forward.

“Clearly there is a discussion about the recession and tough times, but I would love to remind everyone that it was less than a year ago—July of ’07—when everybody in the market was walking around complaining bitterly that there was nothing to buy,” said Glazer. “The complaint today is that there is nothing to buy because there is no money. Pick a complaint. I like this market, because we are back to blocking and tackling, fundamentals.”

Mazzarelli

Mazzarelli notes that Philadelphia is moving in a solid direction. “I think that when you talk about what’s happening in the Philadelphia economy and real estate, you have to go right to the demand side. …You start in the core; everything happens in the Center City and moves out in my opinion. We have an incredible healthy, maybe even defined as robust city in Center City Philadelphia.

He continued that “supply and demand is in perfect order, with demand maybe outstripping supply right now, and rents are going up.” He explained that in the western suburbs, financial markets are thinking about expending, life sciences are expanding and technologies are talking about hiring more people, which he said is a good side. He further explained that if you go look at the Eastern part of the suburbs, “although they have gotten banged around a little, insurance companies are starting to expand and that is a good thing, so I think you are going to see that market stabilize from what looked like a dower situation a year ago.”