Trouble, Opportunities Seen at RealShare Boston

BOSTON-It was a pessimist’s paradise yesterday during the fourth annual RealShare Boston, as the ebullient atmosphere enjoyed during 2007′s program was largely supplanted by concerns over a torpid economy, skyrocketing energy prices and the daunting credit crisis that some speakers warned could shift the commercial real estate landscape dramatically in the coming months.

“I think its going to be a tough couple of years,” Taurus Investment Holdings President Peter Merrigan told more than 300 attendees during the half-day conference’s opening program at the Hyatt Regency. Merrigan and three other respected industry veterans assessed local conditions and handicapped various sectors going forward, with most indicating the near-term outlook is bleak.

“We certainly are nervous,” fellow speaker William McCall Jr. relayed. The president of McCall & Almy indicated demand for office and flex space has slowed considerably, a notion shared by Paradigm Holdings President Kevin McCall (no relation), who voiced fears that the US economy could face “stagflation” such as that experienced in the 1970s. “It’s eerily similar,” he says of the present situation to those dire days, adding he believes unemployment could soar to 8 or 9 percent as it did in the 1970s, if problems persist for such areas as hospitality, housing and retail.