Panelists: Near-Term Prospects Seen as Bleak

TEANECK, NJ-New Jersey’s commercial real estate market is in the midst of a “perfect storm,” and prospects for an upturn appear bleak for the near future. That was the message delivered by Town Hall Meeting panelists who shared their thoughts with 600 attendees at Incisive Media’s RealShare New Jersey Conference here yesterday.

Those panelists were David Cohen, regional director of the Northeast for GE Real Estate; Mitchell Hersh, president and CEO of Mack-Cali Realty Corp.; Charles Klatskin, managing director-industrial for Jones Lang LaSalle; Ray Sohmer, senior managing director of CB Richard Ellis; and Peter Sudler, president of Sudler Management Corp. The discussion was moderated by Eric Peterson, editor of Real Estate New Jersey.

Asked how New Jersey is coping with current conditions, Sudler remarked bluntly, “the credit markets have gone to hell in a handbasket. The office market is horrendous. The industrial market is nothing to write home about. And retail is going to be disaster. While his company has had success in the data recovery market, “now that has gone off the page,” Sudler said. “Right now everything is on hold. I don’t see the bright light.”