Urban Land Institute New York hosts "Real Estate Outlook 2014" on January 30th

Urban Land Institute New York (ULI New York) held a gathering of real estate industry leaders to explore the 2014 economic forecast and discuss ULI's Emerging Trends in Real Estate in a forum entitled "Real Estate Outlook 2014." The event took place on Thursday, January 30th at French Institute Alliance Française. More than 300 guests attended the half-day conference, which included a keynote presentation by Brian Nottage, managing director, JP Morgan Asset Management. Nottage highlighted the booms in the luxury housing market and in Brooklyn due to the restaurant and hospitality sectors. He was followed by responses from esteemed industry experts, including: * Bob Alexander, Chairman, CBRE * Randy Anderson, Americas Head of Research, CBRE * Robert Futterman, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, RKF * MaryAnne Gilmartin, President and Chief Executive Officer, Forest City Ratner Companies * Ed Hogan, National Director of Retail Leasing, Brookfield Office Properties * Robert Knakal, Chairman, Massey Knakal Realty Services * David Levinson, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, L&L Holding Company, LLC * Ron Moelis, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, L+M Development Partners * Laura Pomerantz, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Laura Pomerantz Real Estate LLC * Ronald Prunesti, Senior Vice President and Senior Regional Manager for Commercial Real Estate Banking, HSBC Bank USA, NA * Scott Rechler, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, RXR Realty * Mitch Roschelle, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) * Wendy Silverstein, Executive Vice President and Co-Head of Acquisitions & Capital Markets, Vornado Realty Trust * Owen Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Boston Properties * Mathew Wambua, President, RHR Funding LLC Roschelle, Anderson and Knakal, led a panel that featured a response to ULI's Emerging Trends, in which they presented the following predictions on the mega trends affecting the commercial real estate industry: * Interest rates are anticipated to increase, although commercial real estate market participants are not apparently concerned. * Cap rate compression is not expected to be a driving value; instead, cash flows are likely to drive returns. * New York City is the ultimate urban location and the infill of Brooklyn and Queens is an obvious trend that is predicted to expand the urban footprint. Alexander, Levinson, Rechler and Thomas were featured in the next panel, New York's Emerging Markets: Office Investment Beyond the Core, which highlighted these experts' observations on the changing office sector of real estate, including; * Real estate appears to no longer be about "location, location, location," but rather, "location, location, design." * Rent growth in New York City was claimed to have increased by nearly 19% in the past 24 months. The following panel, Retail 3.0: Efficiency in the Digital Age, made up of Silverstein, Futterman, Hogan and Pomerantz, explored these experts' insights on trends in the retail sector, which included: * The Internet is said to be changing how we shop and impacting retailing as we know it. * The dramatic increase in smartphone usage is reported to be causing retail to shift online. Wambua, Gilmartin, Moelis and Prunesti led the final panel, New York's Housing Dilemma: Options and Affordability in a Challenging Market, which presented an overview of NYC's anticipated 2014 housing market and included the speakers' following predictions: * The continuing of micro unit housing trends is anticipated; similar to what is seen with offices, small shared spaces for the same rent appear to be on the rise. * Opportunity is said to be moving northward: Williamsburg and Long Island City are becoming as expensive as Manhattan. * Rent growth is expected to bring a bright outlook for 2014. For more information on ULI's Emerging Trends in Real Estate or to download a copy of the report, please visit http://www.uli.org/research/centers-initiatives/center-for-capital-markets/emerging-trends-in-real-estate/.