VREP's Sam Morreale Speaks at Annual IOREBA Developers Night

TEANECK, N.J. - May 3, 2017 - PRLog -- Vision Real Estate Partners' Sam Morreale, founder and managing partner, served as a featured panelist during the 25th Annual IOREBA Developers Night. The oldest office and industrial real estate brokers association in the U.S., IOREBA has over 260 members located throughout New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and other states. Over 350 CRE industry professionals came together for a night of networking, dinner and a panel discussion focused on industry and market trends ranging from what tenants want to the new president's impact on New Jersey's real estate market.

Based in Mountain Lakes, N.J., Vision Real Estate Partners is recognized for its deep roots in the New Jersey regional marketplace, and for its track record of identifying properties with great potential and transforming them into superior assets. Morreale was a featured member of the panel, which was moderated by David Simson, vice chairman and COO-NJ with Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. Other participants included Gus Milano, president and COO, Hartz Mountain Industries Inc.; Todd Anderson, principal, executive vice president acquisitions and leasing director, The Hampshire Companies; and Kevin P. Welsh, senior vice president of institutional properties, CBRE Capital Markets.

"To be successful leasing office space today, it's important to know your customer and understand their needs and wants," Morreale said. "Culturally, our firm has moved away from what used to be a hard-edged, financial approach. We have to be more like psychologists, approaching each transaction from the standpoint of whether or not it works for the client."

In response to Simson's question about how interest rates and borrowing power have affected underwriting, Morreale noted, "It's all about the buy, the acquisition, and having a good plan. If you try to financially engineer against interest rates, you will lose. On the office side, we have to be cautiously optimistic because there is more money required to complete deals."

Panel members addressed the strength of New Jersey's residential and industrial markets, predicting continued growth with no signs of a slowdown despite conjecture about a pending bubble. When asked about future occupancy in the office market, Morreale cited an aging tenant base, obsolete buildings and the shift in suburban workplace requirements as issues that will continue to have an impact.

"We have a cultural saying that the way the younger generation learned is how they want to earn. They gravitate to the same kind of collaborative and sustainable environments that educational institutions have created, with accessible gathering and conference spaces."

Morreale noted that it's not just Millennials who are driving the shift to live/work/play environments. "Boomers want dynamic workspaces as well, with upscale services and amenities. We have a project where we created a completely separate amenity center. Putting a gym in the basement and a grab-and-go in the lobby doesn't cut it anymore."

He reinforced the importance of understanding what tenants want and putting together a plan that works for them, not one that looks good on paper. "We have to shift the paradigm, and look at properties with a fresh perspective inside and out, in order to create desirable accommodations for tenants and quality ratables for towns and municipalities."

According to Morreale, "New Jersey is a great market, but not every building is a great building. The opportunity for transformation is clear, especially in the suburbs, and we're seeing a lot of alternative use in existing and projected projects. This creates vibrancy, which is a good thing for the market."

Panelists were asked to comment on the impact of the Trump presidency on New Jersey's real estate market. Despite concern about the legislature's ability to work collaboratively to generate positive change, the group cited tax reform and infrastructure investment as having the greatest potential to stimulate industry growth,

"We have a president who understands our industry and who owns property in the state," noted Morreale. "If he can trim the fat by doing things like cutting taxes and eliminating bureaucratic red tape, it would present a huge opportunity for that value to come back into our industry."

Vision Real Estate Partners is a full-service real estate owner/operator, specializing in development, property management, asset management and construction. The firm currently is developing or redeveloping more than 2 million square feet of space that it owns and manages in its target market. The company also has over 125 acres of land parcels available for mixed-use and build-to-suit opportunities.


About Vision Real Estate Partners (http://www.caryl.com/vision-real-estate-partners-real-est...)