NEW YORK CITY-On Friday, we ran a summary of our latest poll results, stating that most respondents looked eagerly towards the 2013 business climate. And as the day unfolded, more responses stating as such rolled in.

For instance, Bill Krouch, CEO of Markets, Jones Lang LaSalle, offered his view: “While companies remain cautious we do see signs of optimism.  We expect business to start to charge ahead with strategic plans to find growth opportunities.”

He added that “gateway cities and tech and energy heavy markets will be the benefactor of this growth, and that successful businesses will find ways to increase productivity and efficiency, differentiate to take market share, and innovate to find new profitable growth avenues,” giving some perspective into how he feels for 2013. 

Over at Partner Engineering and Science Inc., president Joseph Derhake weighed in, expressing how his company has been faring thus far: “Our construction monitoring practice is also up 81% in January 2013 compared to January 2012. More people are building.” 

He added, “We plan to try to hire 100 fulltime professionals this year - we have already hired 22 and it is only Valentine's Day.” In terms of the industry itself, he said that it was a “good sign” that “Phase I ESA volume nationwide (all vendors) is up 34% in Q4 2012 over  Q4 2011.”

Those more interested in distressed debt might be cheered by words from Pat Jackson, CEO, of Sabal Financial Group who commented, "There is currently real opportunity for continued purchases of distressed debt portfolios from banks looking to shed their problem assets and we see this continuing strong throughout the year. We are also optimistic about the lending side of our business, where we came in ahead of the competition to fill a void left by banks for quality CRE bridge and home builder lending opportunities. New originations are strong and on the rise for us and this business will carry us into the future as the recovery continues."

So far, so good. It will be interesting to check in around the midyear point to see how business is faring and whether so many strong indicators and predictions remain true.