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| Back to Galleries Conditions of the Chicago Real Estate Market  Jim Blaydes, Sam Zell, Michael Wolin | Click Here for Event Photos! The Chicago Chapter of the Appraisal Institute's highly anticipated one day seminar "Conditions of the Chicago Real Estate Market" was held September 12th, 2007, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chicago. The nearly 350 people in attendance were treated to a well-organized day of high caliber presentations covering timely and meaningful topics relating to the Chicago real estate market. The seminar was kicked off by Michael Wolin's introduction for the speaker line-up, which began with a name we are all familiar with; Mr. Peter Korpacz. Mr. Korpacz delivered, in person, the type of information many of us have relied on for the preparation of portions of our appraisal reports for our entire appraisal careers, and did so with a non-technical, down to earth presentation style I found very easy to digest. Next up was Samuel Assefa, Deputy Commissioner, Policy Department of Planning and Development for the City of Chicago. Mr. Assefa presented a very informative overview of Chicago's unique green initiatives, as well as what to me was a highly compelling video presentation concerning Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics. John Patelski with A. Epstein & Son's discussed the green revolution, and how the emerging initiatives in this regard impact the properties we are called on to appraise. The growing trend towards more energy efficient, and environmentally friendly buildings are sure to be important considerations in all of our future appraisal assignments. Diane Swonk, Chief Economist with Mesirow Financial, offered an engaging perspective on the state of US economy, calling on her firsthand knowledge and personal contacts with the economic power players who help shape the USA's economic policies each day. Following Ms. Swonk's presentation was for many in attendance, the most widely anticipated speaker of the day, keynote speaker Mr. Sam Zell. Direct and to the point, Mr. Zell offered his insight from a no nonsense, and experience-based perspective I found to be captivating, as did many attendees I spoke to afterwards. Given a top 20 "who to invite to dinner list", I suspect many Chicago area commercial appraisers wouldn't mind Mr. Zell's presence in their dining room. After lunch, Mr. Ben Wineman of Mid-America Real Estate Corporation offered some very useful information regarding Chicago's commercial/retail property, and the prevailing trends that we all must be aware of in our daily practice. The material presented in Mr. Wineman's power point was interesting and useful. Scott Steilen with Warnick & Company, provided us with an interesting presentation on Chicago's Hotel market. I was surprised to hear how high room rates were in some of the metropolitan markets outside of Chicago that Mr. Warnick offered for comparison purposes. I also found it very interesting when Mr. Steilen displayed sales and resale prices for some of the better known hotel transactions in Chicago - I saw a lot of note taking when those comps were presented. Next up was Mr. Greg Moyer of Marcus and Millichap, who infused a well received level of afternoon energy into his presentation, and provided a bit of light humor as well. I felt the statistics he presented on the Chicago apartment market, and how it has been impacted by high housing costs, and the prevailing credit tightening polices of lenders, to be meaningful information worthy of note taking. Mr. James Degnan of Colliers, Bennett & Kahnweiler offered a timely and informative presentation on Chicago's industrial market. Chances are every MAI in attendance had to rely to some degree on market data generated by Bennett & Kahnweiler in the preparation of their industrial building demo reports - I know I made more than a few calls to them in my standard data verification process way back when. The last presentation was from Mr. Doug Shehan of Cushman & Wakefield, on Chicago's office market. The office market is always of particular interest to many appraisers who attend this meeting each year, as good data for office building assignments isn't always easy to come by. Mr. Shehan discussed the enormous office vacancies that have occurred in some sub-markets as a direct result of the demise of many national subprime lending institutions. I was surprised that there isn't more flexibility in leasing negotiations among the larger property management companies who are managing may of these now barely occupied buildings. All in all, it was clearly a day well spent, and the star studded line-up (relative to our industry anyway) made for a highly informative and worthwhile way to meet our final CE requirements! Steven S. Albert, MAI, SRA Chair, CCAI PR Committee Click Here for Event Photos! |
