ORLANDO, FL – Most commercial real estate sectors will see some improvement during the fourth quarter of this year and all sectors should see bigger gains in 2009, though recovery will be slow, according to
Jeffrey S. Sweeney, (top right photo) SIOR, president and management partner of Grubb & EllisCommercial Florida.
“We’re close to the bottom of this cycle, and I don’t see commercial real estate activity dropping significantly from where we are today,” Sweeney said.
A slow recovery is a natural part of the real estate cycle, Sweeney added. “Now is when the strong developers, the strong brokerage firms will survive and in some cases thrive. The weaker ones with less targeted business focus won’t survive,” he said.
Sweeney, whose firm reported commercial property leasing and sales transactions valued at more than $350 million in 2007, said Florida industrial and office markets may recover at a faster pace than retail, and the pace of recovery should pick up in the latter half of 2009.
“When consumer confidence is high, the retail sector is largely a function of population growth, but when consumer confidence ebbs, retail development is affected and the effects can linger,” Sweeney said. “Fuel costs have quadrupled since 2000, and that will have a lasting impact on consumer confidence and retail activity.”
Sweeney said Grubb & EllisCommercial Florida, which is associated with 200 Grubb & Ellis offices worldwide, saw a decline in revenues of about 15 percent during the first half of 2008.
“We anticipated that decline during our 2007 budgetary process and made provisions by controlling our costs and expenses to remain profitable,” Sweeney said.
Sweeney added that with traditionally slow summer months he projects little increase in activity until the fourth quarter, when factors will begin to improve.
”I think the investment market will right itself as the financial markets clear their books of bad loans. We’ll begin to see loans on new development speculative development and acquisitions of existing properties pick up at a more historic pace starting in October and continuing thru 2010,” Sweeney said.
For more information, please contact:Jeffrey S. Sweeney, SIOR, President, Grubb & EllisCommercial Florida, 407-481-5387
Robert Horton, Vice President, Grubb & EllisCommercial Florida Management 407-481-5384 or 5403
Larry Vershel, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142 (fax: 4410)
About Grubb & EllisCommercial FloridaGrubb & EllisCommercial Florida is an affiliated commercial real estate services firm specializing in the leasing and sale of office, industrial, retail, land and investment properties. Currently Grubb & EllisCommercial Florida has 30 b
rokers divided among its Orlando, Melbourne, Tampa and Sarasota offices to serve the entire mid-Florida marketplace.
About Grubb & Ellis CompanyGrubb & Ellis Company is one of the world’s leading full-service commercial real estate organizations, providing a complete range of transaction, management and consulting services. By leveraging local expertise with our global reach, Grubb & Ellis offers innovative, customized solutions and seamless service to owners, corporate occupants and investors throughout the globe.
TAMPA, Fla. -- Grubb & EllisCommercial Florida recently negotiated the sale of a 72,000 square foot industrial building on a two-acre site at 5102 W. Hanna Ave. (bottom right photo) in Tampa for $2,800,000.00.
Vice President/ Principal Jan Boltres, (top right photo) CCIM and Mike Scott, (top left photo) Vice President/ Principal at Grubb & EllisCommercial Florida’s Tampa office negotiated the transaction working with both the seller, Roger Kumar Revocable Trust and the buyer, Kennedy Investments, Inc.
