Holliday said the company’s portfolio—totaling 22 million square feet in Manhattan primarily based in Midtown—faces competition from the Far West Side, Downtown and some availabilities on Third Avenue. But overall he remains optimistic. “It’s a good place to be in when you generally find yourself in the position of being in preferred location and preferred sponsor,” he said. “There is always a premium that the tenant will be willing to pay to be in core Midtown or better locations Downtown, so we try to maximize that to our advantage.” On the disposition side, he added that the company will also further its asset recycling program into the second half of the year.

Also on the office front, Boston-based REIT Boston Properties—an owner/operator of class A properties in five markets, including New York, Boston, Princeton, San Francisco and Washington DC—said it is seeing “a lot of activity” at its development site at 250 W. 55^th St, which recently topped out two weeks ago. “Good things seem to be happening,” said Douglas Linde, president of Boston Properties. The building, to be anchored by law firm Morrison and Foerster, just got its third law firm with an active requirement come through the building yesterday, as well as a technology company, Linde said. “The point being, there are tenants out looking for a couple 100,000 square foot blocks of space that need to make a decision by early 2013 or ‘14” he said. “We feel reasonably optimistic that we will have another transaction that we will be able to describe to the investor world between now and the end of the year, and we are confident in our ability to fill that building.”

The company made headlines in late February when it acquired the Bank of America Tower at 100 Federal St. in Boston for $615 million, a deal which expanded the company's Boston-based holdings to 10%. Back in Manhattan, BXP is also working to lease up 510 Madison Ave. after putting the building into service earlier this year. The property, which is 45% leased, is being re-branded with pre-built office suites to attract small, professional tenants, Linde said. “It is a brand new building, and there is a premium that will be paid for that,” he added.

On the retail front at the conference, Chicago-based General Growth Properties said it is going to continue its concentration on building occupancy past the current 94.7% rate, and plans to drop its US mall count from 135 to 125, while conversely growing its Brazil mall numbers from 15 to 19 properties. “Our focus is about leasing, leasing, leasing,” said Sandeep Mathrani, CEO.

He said the giant mall REIT, which has retooled senior management and eliminated more than 1,000 employees since emerging from bankruptcy in 2010, derives about 80% of its income from 85 class A malls. “We’re trying to sell off our lower productive malls, which generally range in the $330 to $340 per square foot sales range,” he said. Average sales for the trust’s portfolio are at $530 per square foot, Mathrani said.

That’s not to say he doesn’t appreciate the non-core properties. “Someone asked me what I would do if I had $1 billion to invest, and I said, it depends on the desired horizon,” he said. “If I’m looking at five years to pull out profit, I’d put it all in class B malls which have a shorter return time, but if it was longer term I’d go with core malls.”

He also said he’s not worried about online retail hurting the brick-and-mortar business. The successful tenants today are putting cash in both online and malls, Mathrani says, and when shipping costs rise and states adopt Internet sales tax laws, the playing field will get more level, he said.

Executives at Beachwood, OH-based DDR Corp. were upbeat about the state of retail today, though the firm has been enjoying strong leasing throughout its 481 value-oriented shopping centers, representing 123 million square feet in 39 states. The trust said 90% of the portfolio is performing at class A levels, with a 94% average occupancy overall.

The REIT is comfortable to focus on leasing its core properties while also selling off non-core assets, such as the recent disposition of an office/flex portfolio in Silver Spring, MD for $31.1 million. “We’ve been trying to sell the stuff that doesn’t belong,” said Dan Hurwitz, president and CEO. “With that sale we’re almost purely a shopping center REIT, and we’re going to move to sell more to become a purely prime center REIT.”

He said the biggest issue with retail today is that there’s not enough development to hold tenant growth desires, prompting the announcements of store redesigns and downsizing. So far, though, downsizing just hasn’t happened as much as publicized, said Paul Freddo, senior EVP of leasing and development. “We’re excited to downsize, as tenant’s don’t have that right, they need our consent and in many cases have said they’re willing to pay to do it,” Freddo said. “The problem is it’s not happening fast enough. It’s partly because of the nature of the tenant real estate department, they’re an expense, and they’re also trying to negotiate deals and grow stores.”

Hurwitz also said he doesn’t see new development happening, because of growing entitlement risk and the disconnect with how much landlords would need in rent vs. how much tenants are willing to pay. “It’s much wiser for a developer/owner to take capital and invest into existing assets and maximize the value of what you have,” he said.