Ralph Perna - Lets work together to get in on the next trend: Apartment, condominium and co-op development

Real estate developers, brokers and landlords must always keep reinventing themselves. Landlords have to continue enhancing their buildings with new amenities to attract tenants, new digital ideas to gain customers, and creative presentations to land new assignments. Unquestionably, the Internet has propelled marketing to a whole new level, making new tools available for business development, brand building and marketing of properties. It also introduced new ways of doing business, something all developers, brokers and landlords should be exploring. For example, in the office sector, websites such as CoStar and Loop net, have virtually eliminated a listing system for an office. Online there are programs available to create presentations that are not only impressive but can take a boutique real estate firm and give the impression that it has a national presence. Landlords in the office market have also developed new ways to gain attention and project a progressive organization. One which comes to mind is the novel idea of installing news and weather reports inside elevators. For developers, spotting the next trend for new real estate development is somewhat more challenging. It seems that, with every cycle comes an expansion of a particular real estate sector. For example, in the 80s, it was the onslaught of the big box retailers. Price Club came to town and took over a sleeping BJ's. Next, there were the Walmarts, Kohls and others following. With hotels, we saw another sector of over expansion, wherein even developers outside the metropolitan area were eager to be the first to get here and get in on the expansion activity. Then, we had the explosion of self storage facilities. Over time, we had national REITs come in for their own development and conversion of existing buildings, followed by local players trying to compete. Now, we have what I believe is an overabundance of self storage units with storage companies launching marketing campaigns that are similar to restaurant ads for mid-week specials. Prior to our current economic downturn, we witnessed a more practical sector-assisted living. Let's face it, the population is aging and the lack of affordable housing is driving the younger generation to other more cost-effective areas. To accommodate our graying population, assisted living facilities were being developed by both national players, as well as local developers. Probably the most successful local developer of assisted living facilities is Engel Burman. Retaining the younger generation to our region has given rise to yet another current trend-the development of more affordable housing. Right now, many young couples-even those with two incomes-are finding the region's housing cost prohibitive. Further complicating matters is more stringent lending parameters. Although the market has compressed by 20%, the bank lender requirements have become stricter. These factors coupled with the higher than average real estate taxes, and young couples and individuals wanting to take advantage of the Long Island-Metropolitan New York region's better than average living conditions, are behind the latest trend to be launched-that of apartment development. Condominiums, co-ops and apartments are not new to the area-in particular Long Island - however, I believe we will see a large expansion within this area. Now if we can only get the towns to facilitate more reasonable timeframes relating to the process of obtaining rezoning and issue permits, it just may give us the injection we need to keep a next generation workforce in the area. Keep in mind, the longer the towns take to complete the process of rezoning site plan approvals and health department approvals, the higher the costs to the project, which in turn, can result in higher rents-defeating the purpose of what we are trying to accomplish-affordability. There are several developers currently poised to jump into what I believe is this next trend, that being apartment development, condo and co-op development We shall see...stay tuned. Ralph Perna is the executive managing director at Newmark Knight Frank, Melville, N.Y.