Real Estate Journal — New Jersey — April 10 - 23, 2015 — Inside Back Cover B
www.marejournal.com
M id A tlantic
CREW NJ March Monthly Meeting: Trends in Multi-Family Housing SOMERSET, NJ – It has been termed “New Jersey’s Hottest Asset Class,” and multifamily housing was the topic of discussion at the March meeting of CREW NJ-Commercial Real Es- tate Women of New Jersey. The event was held at AvalonBay Somerset, a thriving multifamily property. Featured speaker was Ron Ladell, Senior Vice President, AvalonBay Communities. “I want to thank Ron Ladell for the idea of focusing on this topic,” said CREW NJ President Susan Karp, Esq., of Cole Schotz. “We have never had a program on multifamily trends, and we look forward to his insight on this topic.” While some sectors of commercial real estate have continued to struggle, “multifamily in the current cycle is proving to be durable, similar to the 1990’s cycle,” said Ladell. New construction of rental units continues to be particularly strong, driven by “job growth and household formations,” he said. At this time, many people are not interested in buying due to challenging mortgage credit and down payment requirements along with a demographic shift which started a few years ago. Household formations are particularly a factor in rental unit growth. Homeownership is falling faster for young adults, but overall, the demand for housing is still strong.” For AvalonBay, “we prefer to operate where it’s difficult to get approvals,” he explained. The reason: “Nobody will get to develop nearby once we’ve completed a project. We don’t develop in states where it’s easy to get approvals,” he added, noting specifically Arizona, Nevada and Texas. “It all relates to rent growth,” he said, explaining that easy approvals equals more com- petition equals a lack of rent growth long-term. “New Jersey is the poster child for difficulty in getting approvals for various factors,” Ladell said. “It’s expensive and frustrating,” but there’s long-term rent growth for those properties that do get completed. “New Jersey is the ‘steady Eddy of rent growth, with rents going up now by an average of 2%-3% a year.” Long-term, his company focuses on “attractive coastal markets” in the Northeast, Mid Atlantic and West Coast. And from an investment standpoint, “everyone wants to be a multifamily owner today.” In New Jersey, AvalonBay’s assets include garden/townhome and mid-rise properties. While the company does have high-rise elsewhere, it has none in the Garden State. “Few communities in the State can support high-rise based on pricing,” Ladell explained. And in the age of technology, AvalonBay, whose brand carries weight, has seen “an increase in on-line leasing.” Ladell noted. CREW New Jersey’s March philanthropy supported WomenRising, a Jersey City-based orga- nization that provides support and programs for women and children, including those who have experienced domestic violence. The organization, which will celebrate its 110th anniversary in October, bears the motto, “From Crisis to Self-Sufficiency.” “We want to get the word out about all of our services,” said Meg Paradise, Director-Fund De- velopment. “It’s all about people coming together and making a difference in people’s lives, and I want to thank CREW NJ for their support.” “Philanthropy continues to be a very important part of the CREW NJ mission,” said Karp. “We would like to thank all of you for your generous donations to this worthy cause.” CREW NJ’s next event will be a breakfast meeting on April 16 at the Hotel Woodbridge at Me- tropark, titled “Risk and Reward: Successful Women in Commercial Real Estate.” Judy Nitsch, immediate past president of CREW Network and chairman of Nitsch Engineering, will moder- ate a panel featuring Meryl Gonchar, partner of Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis; Faith Hope Consolo, Retail Group chairman of Douglas Elliman; and Kim Brennan, NY/Tri-state COO of Colliers International. CREW NJ is the New Jersey Chapter of CREW Network (Commercial Real Estate Network), which is dedicated to the advancement of women in commercial real estate. Membership or- ganizations are comprised of nearly 9,000 members representing every discipline within the industry and are located in 73 chapters across North America. CREW Network seeks to influence the success of the commercial real estate industry by fo- cusing on fulfilling four key initiatives: business development, leadership development, industry research and career outreach. Members represent fields as diversified as accountants, archi- tects, appraisers, asset/property managers, attorneys, consultants, developers, lenders, leasing and sales brokers, mortgage bankers/brokers, marketing specialists, market and investment analysts, corporate real estate representatives and title/escrow officers. For more information on programming, sponsorship or membership, please contact CREW NJ at (609) 585-6871, khassan@crewnj.org via email or visit the website at www.crewnj.org.
2015 BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT Susan Karp, Esq., Cole Schotz skarp@coleschotz.com PRESIDENT-ELECT Rebecca Machinga, CPA, WithumSmith + Brown rmachinga@withum.com TREASURER Tara DelGavio, CPA, Cohn Reznick tara.delgavio@cohnreznick.com SECRETARY Lory Karakashian, PE, CME , InSite Engineering, LLC Lory@InSiteEng.net DIRECTOR - MEMBERSHIP Krista Korinis, Global Installation Resources, LLC kkorinis@gi-resources.com DIRECTOR - PHILANTHROPY TinaMarie Cortina, Liberty Elevator Corporation tcortina@libertyelevator.com DIRECTOR - PROGRAMMING Tara Carver, Esq., Giordano Halleran & Ciesla P.C. tphelancarver@ghclaw.com DIRECTOR - PUBLIC RELATIONS Colleen Logan, Sobel & Co., LLC colleen.logan@sobel-cpa.com DIRECTOR - SPECIAL PROJECTS Suzanne Bonney, AIA, Santander Global Facilities smbonneyra@comcast.net DIRECTOR - SPONSORSHIP Jennifer Mazawey, Esq., Genova Burns
jmazawey@genovaburns.com DIRECTOR - SPONSORSHIP Diane Menard, Prestige Title Agency, Inc. diane.menard@prestigetitle.net COUNSEL/ADVISOR Cheryl Hardt, CBRE Group, Inc.
cheryl.hardt@cbre.com COUNSEL/ADVISOR Monica J. Ceres, Esq., Giordano, Halleran & Ciesla, P.C.
mceres@ghclaw.com COUNSEL/ADVISOR Patricia Riedel, CBRE Group, Inc.
pat.riedel@cbre.com www.crewnj.org
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker