Cole, too, is looking at shedding assets. Roberts revealed that the company is planning to start a disposition program next year, with a goal of selling $500 million in assets annually.

A non-traded REIT that invests primarily in single-tenant assets, Cole currently has two vehicles raising capital, two closed vehicles and two in the registration phase. The firm pays about a 6.5% dividend to some 120,000 investors. “It’s really an income play for retirees” and wealthy individuals, Roberts said.

Cole’s current fund is at $4.5 billion, and Roberts said it should hit $5.5 billion by the time it’s closed. Overall, the company has just under $10 billion in assets at about 38% leverage. It tends to buy assets with cash, at an 8.5% overall cap rate, and finance later.

In 2012, Cole will become involved in a new product type, what Roberts dubbed “power” industrial and office—multi-tenant properties in those sectors.

“We’ll do about $200 million to $300 million in that,” he revealed. The company is also looking to finance development. “We’re looking to own assets long term, so we’d be a great capital partner to a developer.”

Roberts was quick to point out, however, that Cole is very risk-averse. While the firm is involved in the office and industrial sectors, its main focus is single-tenant credit retail.

DCT was an active acquirer in 2009 and early 2010. “But as time passed and prices rose, we shifted up the risk spectrum a bit,” specifically taking on leasing risk, Hawkins said. “But we’ve been successful with leasing.”

The company has also found opportunities for development in select markets such as Houston, the DC area and some parts of Southern California. But given the current state of the economy, said Hawkins, “we’ll probably start being more conservative with our underwriting. In our business, it’s all about the basis. We’d like to have a near-term return, but in the long run, a good asset will deliver a long-term basis.”

A conservative investment philosophy is what differentiates Cole from its competitors, Roberts noted. “We’re also flush with cash, so we see more opportunities.”

Meanwhile, DCT balances its small size with swift action and being a skilled operator and partner. “We all avoid making mistakes of action, which you can measure,” Hawkins said. “What’s even bigger than that are mistakes of inaction.”

Looking ahead five years, Hawkins doesn’t see a seismic shift in the industry, but he did say he wouldn’t “be surprised to see more companies enter this space. It’s underserved.”

Roberts, too, sees “huge growth,” but on the private side of industrial. “Investors are buying commercial real estate.” As for Cole, he said the company, with its current vehicle plus another on the way, should hit $30 billion to $40 billion in assets by 2016.

Later in the day, two CEOs from private companies shared their insights during a panel moderated by Sule Aygoren Carranza, editor-in-chief of Real Estate Forum. Corporate culture, family relationships and transitioning businesses served as the key themes of the session, which featured Michael Alter, president of the Alter Group, and Pat Ryan, president and CEO of Ryan Cos. US Inc.

Both longtime family owned and operated businesses, Alter Group and Ryan Cos.’ leaders said their respective corporate cultures are the true heart of their companies and have helped guide decisions in good times and bad.

“We have a unique culture in that we aren’t a typical real estate firm,” Alter said. “For us, not everything is focused on maximizing profit, and we’re not driven by growth for growth sake. We are interested in doing deals that we consider to be smart and make sense to do, which is a difficult thing to understand in a transactional industry.”

From Ryan Cos.’ perspective, Ryan shared that hiring decisions should be made on culture, with capability serving as the filter. He warned that if a shared culture isn’t ingrained throughout the organization, the company will fall apart because employees will gravitate in different directions.

“People have often asked why we don’t set a metric to grow by a percentage each year, but a company must grow based on the pace its people have the capacity to grow, and you shouldn’t grow faster,” he said. “Most importantly, you don’t do deals that just don’t feel right. The truth is that it’s far harder to turn down a deal than it is to do a deal.”

The companies have been in the real estate business for decades—more than 55 years for Alter Group and 70-plus years for Ryan Cos.—and both have weathered challenges and downturns. Alter says that knowing what his company’s strengths are and realizing when to say no have been key. Most importantly, he cites the company’s longstanding relationships with vendors, lenders and other partners as invaluable and Ryan agreed.

“One our best moves is not commoditizing our banking relationships,” Ryan said. “We’ve stayed with them in good times, and in tough times they’ve stuck with us. There’s real value in that.”

With REITs’ incredible growth and access to capital in the past years, both companies admit that they explored going public but are glad that they made the ultimate decision to stay private. Alter said they were told by advisors that they couldn’t be competitive in hiring as a private company because hires wanted stock options, although they’ve not found that to be the case. “But I never say never to anything, so we may explore it again in the future,” he said.

Aygoren Carranza asked Alter and Ryan to share the lessons they’ve learned coming out of the recession. “We have always been very cautious with the amount of land we purchase, and we did not get carried away with spec development,” Ryan said. “As a result, we didn’t get caught with much empty space at all. Our business model is critical—we are a ‘three-legged stool’ that does construction, real estate development and asset management. When one leg of the stool turns down, we still have two to stand on.”

Throughout the slow economy, both Alter and Ryan admit that keeping employees challenged and energized is an effort. “The biggest obstacle is trying to drive the concept that business tomorrow isn’t going to be the same as it was in 2007,” Ryan said. “Waiting for the economy to change or go back is not an option. We’ve had to transform our business model without abandoning the ability to flex when the market comes back. Realizing it, forming a strategy and getting people behind it is the key.”

When it comes to succession planning—and the transition it took for both Alter and Ryan to be named as heads of their companies—both said that the lessons they learned from those they followed are irreplaceable.

“I was incredibly blessed to work with my dad for 15 years,” Alter said. “He was a true pioneer and innovator, and he was a great teacher to me. As far as the next generation, it’s definitely something I feel the responsibility to figure out, and what’s important to me is building a strong, stable company to be passed on to the next generation. My task is to put us in the best place we can be so that the transition, when it comes, is as easy as possible.”

On a personal level, Ryan shared that the 2008 death of Jim Ryan, one of three partners in Ryan Cos., gave him renewed perspective. “Jim was my partner and best friend for 26 years,” he said. “I’ve missed his partnership, wisdom and support. His battle to overcome cancer put the challenges we were facing in business in perspective with what’s truly important in life.

“There are two types of families in businesses—the family business is what you do, and the business of family is how you own it, manage it and pass it on,” Ryan continued. “A long time ago we developed a philosophy that’s served us well in this downturn: the perpetuation of the business is more important than the family ownership of the business. That helps guide decisions from the business perspective and makes making decisions easier, even when they aren’t easy decisions.”