Commercial Executive Magazine – March, 2010
By Kathleen O’Brien Thompson
With the commercial real estate market in the midst of steady decline due to the unwelcome changes of both a credit crunch and the recession, Valley dealmakers gathered on a Thursday evening last month at a retail roundtable to talk about what the next few years will look like. While many see a rough road ahead, the consensus of the panel of leading developers and brokers was a belief in Arizona and the ability of this state to bounce back. Hosted by Commercial Executive Magazine, and held at the Capital Grille on Camelback, the panel consisted of noteworthy Valley developers, including: Jim Pederson, chairman, Pederson Group; Howard Grace, president of W.M. Grace Development Co.; Jeff Allen, president, Kitchell Development Company; and David Larcher, executive vice president of Vestar Development Co. On the broker side, the panelists were: Zach Pace, senior vice president with Phoenix Commercial Advisors; Richard Murphy, senior vice president with CB Richard Ellis; Jon Cowen, owner and president of Cowen Commercial LLC; and Ed Beeh, executive vice president of SRS Real Estate Partners, who was also the moderator of the roundtable….