Commercial Real Estate Finance

On Wednesday, Llenrock Group attended the quarterly meeting of the Philadelphia Real Estate Council. We had the pleasure of listening to two guest speakers, as well as several other prestigious members of the Philadelphia real estate world, as they weighed in on the important issues that are affecting development and commercial real estate in the city.

Ahmeenah Young, the CEO of the Philadelphia Convention Center, spoke about how their new expansion will be a great business driver for the east side of Broad Street, in downtown Philly. The new addition will create the opportunity for business to thrive around the “less popular” side of Broad as foot traffic from different events at the center will positively affect the perception of that area.

Paul Levy, CEO of the Center City District in Philadelphia, spoke about tax reform and creating a sense of cohesiveness between the separate nodes of activity within the city. The different areas around the city are what make Philadelphia great, but if they were connected, and tied together, it would make the city even better. There is definitely the possibility to meld these areas together, but there is a lot of work that needs to be done before we see any real improvements.

One way to promote this cohesiveness is through tax reform in the city. This effort could increase the likely-hood that businesses and entrepreneurs would want to “set up shop” in Philadelphia.

Other topics that were covered included issues with the unions in Philadelphia and hotel development for the newly expanded convention center.

The unions greatly affect development within the city. No matter if you are pro-union, or not, there is no denying that they are a defining factor in the work that gets done.

Also, the new addition to the convention center could create the possibility for new hotel development in the center city area as more event goers will need a place to stay. Don’t forget, a hotel in walking distance is a huge plus, and in a city that claims to be very “walk-able” this is extremely important.

This was a great meeting, and an even greater discussion. The open forum atmosphere created the perfect environment for good ideas and thoughts to flow without restriction.

This is definitely something that I look forward to in the future.

If you are interested in checking out some more information about the PREC please go to http://www.precouncil.org/

#CRE #economy #finance

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