A great deal of DHA's client base to date has been lenders, and Hollander says they're "divided pretty evenly" between those that want to bring their own capital to bear in dealing with the projects and "those that want to rescue capital from the outside." Many lenders, he says, "are going through that debate internally, and that's why 2010 will be the year that many of those decisions will get made and the projects will get recapitalized."

Whatever side of the divide they're on, Hollander says client's exit strategies are all pretty similar: "to recoup as much of their proceeds as they can, as quickly as possible. On a broken development deal, some lenders will feel that executing the project on their own, with their own capital, will get them a higher level of proceeds even if it exposes them to more risk. Some of them are deciding that those risks aren't worth it and are willing to take more of a discount in order to bring other people's money. Both of those things are happening; this year we'll see which is the prevailing trend."

Hollander predicts that the menu of development deals will broaden from the busted condo deals that predominate at the moment. "As loans begin to come due, and there's a need to recapitalize projects, there will be much more varied product type," he says.

He also sees his own practice evolving along with the market this year and next. "I'm extremely well set up right now to deal with the development issues that are most prevalent in the marketplace, just because of my background," Hollander says. As the year goes on into 2011," there will be more assets coming to market that don't require development skills but are more of a pure investment play. I certainly am planning to expand the firm and shift its focus over that time period as those assets begin to come to market. But we have to see that happen first."