with a rebound to be following around
mid-2010.
Daniel Lesser, senior managing di-rector-industry leader of the Hospitality & Gaming Group with CB Richard
Ellis, says he doesn’t expect declines
in the hotel industry to be as severe as
in 2001-02, when revenue per available
room was negative for five consecutive
quarters. “RevPAR continues to increase,
albeit at much slower rates,” he says.
The panel advises hotels to hold the
line on room rates in several ways, from
enhancing customer service to taking
advantage of promotions offered by
major hotel brands. At the same time,
they caution against heavy payrolls and
operating expenses.
Energy savings and green initiatives
may lead to savings, as well as a way to
attract environmentally conscious guests
as well as corporate clients with their
own green initiatives. “If you’re LEED-certified, it’s all the better,” observes
John Hamilton, senior vice president of
acquisitions and business development
for Pyramid Advisors LLC.
Hotel chains, no matter how large or
small, need to impress upon and motivate the staff at each location to perform
at their best, says Mark Laport, president
and CEO of Concord Hospitality Enterprise Co. “It’s how you win in a bad
economy,” he says.
Geoffrey Davis, president of HREC
Investment Advisors, observes that hotel
operators who got overleveraged over
the past few years could find themselves
under duress now. “What you did in
the up market determines whether you
survive in the down market,” Davis says,
adding that 450 properties across the
country are currently on watch lists.
Lesser adds that there are plenty
of opportunities for cash-rich investors to acquire existing hotel debt at
substantial discounts, some as much as
20% off par value. He believes the industry will recover along with the rest
of the economy, adding: “This is still a
very high-level growth industry in the
long term.”
The GlobeSt.com Webinar Series is
produced by Incisive Media, which also
publishes Forum and four regional
magazines.— With reporting by Carl Cro-nan, GlobeSt.com
REBNY Report: Retail
Holds Up in Downturn
Manhattan’s overall asking rents for
ground floor retail space are down 3% to
$129 compared to a year ago, according to
the fall edition of the Real Estate Board of
New York’s semiannual report. However,
the report notes year-over-year increases
for several of Manhattan’s prime shopping
corridors, and members of REBNY’s retail
report advisory group said earlier this
month they’re optimistic about 2009.
“What we see doesn’t look so bad,”
said Joanne Podell, executive director in
Cushman & Wakefield’s retail services
group and chair of REBNY’s retail stores
committee. Introducing the report during
a panel discussion, she noted that despite
the turmoil in the capital markets, “retail
is holding up.”
Of the 17 retail corridors examined in
the report, Fifth Avenue between 49th and
59th streets commands the highest average asking rent of $1,400 per sf as of the
end of Q3. That’s up 12% from an average
of $1,250 in Q3 2007, and rents along that
corridor range from $1,200 to $2,500 per
sf. Benjamin Fox, president of Winick Realty Group, noted that the higher figures
usually represented smaller spaces.
Substantial year-over-year increases were
seen for the Hudson Street corridor (up
62.5% from $75 to $120 per sf) and West
34th Street between
Fifth and Seventh avenues (up 38% from
$464 to $643 per sf).
Slight declines were
seen for the Third Avenue corridor between
60th and 72nd streets
Podell (down 6.3% from $305
to $287) and Fifth Av-
enue between 14th and 23rd streets (off
8% from $298 to $276). Steeper decreases
were recorded for Broadway south of
Chambers Street (off 16.6% from $301 to
$251 per sf) and Broadway between Houston and Broome streets (off 13.8% from
$501 to $432).
“The report demonstrates mixed results, with some prime shopping corridors
showing strong increases in asking rents
and others experiencing declines,” says
REBNY president Steven Spinola in a release. “While the retail market has slowed
Real Estate
NEW YORK
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
RICHARD T.
ANDERSON
New York
Building Congress
DAVID ARENA
Grubb & Ellis
STEVE B.
BLEIWEISS
Mancini Duffy
WILLIAM G.
COHEN
Newmark Knight
Frank
JEFFREY R.
DUNNE
CBRE New York
Tri-State
DAN FASULO
Real Capital
Analytics
ROBERT
FREEDMAN
Williams Real
Estate
ROBERT K. ALLEN GOLDMAN
FUTTERMAN SJP Residential
Robert K. Futterman
& Associates
JOSEPH R.
HARBERT
Cushman
& Wakefield
SUZANNE ANDREW L. HERZ
HEIDELBERGER Patterson,
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Belknap, Webb,
Meagher & Flom LLP & Tyler LLP
LENORE JANIS
Professional
Women in
Construction
EDWARD JORDAN
Marcus & Millichap
Real Estate
Investment Services
ROBERT KNAKAL
Massey Knakal
Realty Services
JEFFREY
NEWMAN
W & M Properties
CRAIG PANZIRER
Monday
Properties
CARL F.
SCHWARTZ
Herrick,
Feinstein LLP
NORMAN
STURNER
Murray Hill
Properties LLC
KENT SWIG
Terra Holdings LLC
FRANKLIN S.
ZUCKERBROT
Sholom &
