Kennedy: Income Inequality Threatens CRE

CHICAGO—“I don’t want to kill the buzz of this conference,” Christopher G. Kennedy began. The developer of Wolf Point and former head of the Merchandise Mart was giving the afternoon keynote presentation at Marcus & Millichap’s CRE Forum in Chicago on Wednesday and had a tough, but ultimately hopeful message.

Most speakers at the daylong conference, held at the University of Chicago’s Gleacher Center, expressed confidence in the region’s economic future. But Kennedy believes the specter of income inequality and corresponding social problems could threaten the region, and the US, in the long-run. He outlined his concerns in a morally urgent speech so laden with facts and figures it might have been stupefying in the hands of a less-skilled speaker.