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8 — January 13 - 26, 2012 — Mid Atlantic Real Estate Journal

MARE journal.com

2012 F ORECAST

By Tripp Way, NAI Emory Hill 2012 A New and Better Year in Real Estate!

that space is being absorbed and acquired by growing com- panies and savvy investors. There were a number of trans- actions that were completed here in Delaware that in- creased occupancy in many office parks. These included Cigna’s move to Bellevue Cor- porate Center (100,000 square feet); a regional bank’s move to Silverside Carr (30,000 square feet completed by NAI Emory Hill); and the acquisition of the former First Data Center by WR Berkley Corporation (70,000 square feet – also by NAI Emory Hill).

Other signs point to a pre- dicted increase in activity locally for 2012: There are a number of new tenants in the market that are looking for office space. Delaware’s unemployment rate started to slowly decrease throughout the past year. Further, several anticipated redevelopment projects are expected to in- crease lease activity including the University of Delaware’s purchase of the former Chrys- ler site in Newark and plans to turn it into a new R&D and technology campus/busi- ness park to be completed in 2013, and Fisker’s purchase of the GM assembly plant in Newport and plans to begin production this year. The recent trends in slowly rising lease prices suggest the worst may be behind us – and for businesses looking to lease or buy, it’s time to take a look at these trends to decide if now is the best time to make a move. Tripp Way is a partner with NAI Emory Hill. ■ 2012 and beyond . . . Hold on to the wheel and pay at- tention If you’ve made it this far and you’ve still got a boat and a crew ... Bravo ! If you’ve taken on water or even lost your boat, not so good but now’s when you’ve gotta pull yourself onto whatever driftwood you can find and start kicking. There’s still more money out there than deals and deal makers so go make deals (Sorry for the boating analogy, but I became a boater this year). The major storm we made it through was truly the perfect storm in that it involved the banks, the government and the consumer, should now be mostly over. That said, we’ve been spun around and battered and the weather report remains murky and unpredictable. We also still have to watch out for that rouge wave, whether it’s Greek debt, Middle East upris- ing, or good ol’ Mother Nature. Or closer to home things like MF Global which nobody saw coming and took down a lot of legendary sea-worthy cap- tains. Continued in the January 27 issue. Billy Procida is pesident of Procida Funding and Advisors. ■

EW CASTLE, DE — Just as they say on Wall Street to

That is, if you can find space – which in and of itself might be the impetus to the market for which we’ve all been wait- ing. Lease Rate Climb, Space Shortage Will Help Sale and lease prices are slightly lower than last year and may have hit recent lows. But lease rates here, primarily for office space, have shown an increase in the last few months. If this trend continues we could see a positive growth for the first time in more than two years – even as soon as the second or third quarter.

Meanwhile, new construc- tion has remained sluggish, mainly due to new bank loan curtailments. The lack of con- struction on the horizon is expected to help recovery as activity inches upward. The bottom line is that no new space means more competi- tion for the space that exists, or less supply equals more demand. Recent Activity a Good Sign Locally the real estate mar- ket showed signs of life in 2011 – which further indicates the market is starting to turn and

“buy low, sell high,” com- mercial real estate mar- ket forecast experts are recommend- ing to busi- nesses out there need-

Tripp Way

ing space that now is definitely the best time to buy or lease – before prices go up, which they inevitably will, possibly as soon as mid-year.

We’ve Got What You’re Looking for in 2012!

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