Gene Spiegelman, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.

What are your predictions for commercial real estate in 2014? 1. Moderate decrease in retail vacancy rates driven by incremental improvements in the economy and limited development pipeline. 2. Restrained growth in retail spending as consumers remain cautious. 3. Scarcity of high quality assets being chased by deep pools of capital. 4. Urban retail cores continue to out perform the overall retail market. 5. Ever increasing gap in "A" shopping centers from conventional product 6. Globalization and Omni-Channel marketing will continue to be the buzz- words. 7. Media, government and politics will continue to exhaust U.S. consumers as we head to the 2014 midterm elections in the shadow of Obamacare.