Leaving Las Vegas: ICSC Wrap Up
 ICSC Las Vegas is the largest real estate conference in the US, and Capital Pacific again had a booth and a strong presence at the show (May 18-20). Twelve of our agents attended, and had around 150 meetings with buyers, owners and developers from across the US. While there were a few things that haven’t changed (100 degree heat, blisters, and non-stop breath mint consumption), there were some striking differences from years past. First, the number of attendees was down to around 30,000 (from a high of 50,000 a few years ago). This actually translated into higher quality meetings, since only true dealmakers were in attendance.Meetings held at the conference provided valuable insight into the current real estate market from local, regional and national perspectives. In the past year, the market has shifted faster than anyone expected, and as always, the industry is responding with new strategies for the current climate. Additionally, owners are beginning to accept the shift in exit values, and as a result more opportunistic buyers are entering the market. New and existing equity funds are beginning to show their appetite for debt distressed assets and core centers as well. Financing still remains challenging, but signs of a credit thaw are now beginning to manifest as well. Overall, this year’s ICSC conference signaled a shift from uncertainty towards cautious optimism about what lies ahead (and an acknowledgement that every transaction is going to take a lot of creativity and hard work). |