The Mega-Deals Are Back in Commercial Real Estate

So you want to know how true players in the commercial real estate space get the big deals done? Many investors do. Analysts who monitor the real estate industry say investors who left traditional brick-and-mortar industries -- such as real estate -- during the dot-com and telecom booms have come back.

This has resulted in large amounts of capital driving massive real estate deals according to Wharton Business School professors and industry experts. The school's Samuel Zell and Robert Lurie Real Estate Center recently organized a meeting with three panel sessions, one of which was called 'Mega-Projects in Real Estate: Where Are They and How Do They Work?" to discuss recent trends.

Attendees learned about the challenges and creativity required to get big deals done. The panelists discussed aspects of structuring, underwriting, pricing, negotiating, financing and execution. It's safe to say that mostly everyone came away with the knowledge that while risks are high in commercial real estate transactions, so are the potential rewards.

Should Your Next CEO Be a Philosopher?

This in from one of the Wharton Business School's e-newsletter's called Knowledge@Wharton. According to the article, a Wharton professor and an Israeli venture capitalist believe that a firm's financial success comes more from a deep understanding of the customer's philosophical perspective than other areas such as effective marketing, research and developement, building brand loyalty and other efforts. Zen anyone?

Toxic Breast Milk? By FLORENCE WILLIAMS

Apparently you are what you eat. Ms. Williams wrote this article for a January 9, 2005 issue of the New York Times. In it she asks readers to imagine human milk from mammary glands with an ingredients label. Read down and one will see 100% of the nourishing and life-enhancing minerals and vitamins needed by babies. Keep reading. Tests show that along with the good comes the bad: trace amounts of of DDT (the persistent pesticide) PCB's, dioxin, trichloroethylene, perchlorate, mercury, lead, benzene, and arsenic.

Where is this coming from? Ms. Williams notes that the small amounts of paint thinners, dry-cleaning fluids, wood preservatives, toilet deodorizers, cosmetic additives, gasoline byproducts, rocket fuel, termite poisons, fungicides and flame retardants passed to infants comes from the mother's diet, neighborhood and, increasingly, her household decor.

Source: The New York Times

Philadelphia (Free)dom

City government in Philadelphia appears to be using wi-fi technology to attract new business and also offer a free perk to those who currently reside within its limits.

Marc Levy wrote an AP article that ran on December 1 on the Washingpost.com. website and reported that the City of Philadelphia had struck a deal with Verizon. This new development has helped the city move along in its quest to provide free and/or inexpensive high-speed wireless access to all businesses and residents.

The city's website has several news briefings on the subject. I've quoted one of them:

"... the goal will be to provide some level of free wireless Internet access to everyone living, working or visiting in the city. It is anticipated that some sort of tiered service levels will be created for higher levels of service and individuals and organizations will pay a fee for these higher tiers of service/ How these levels of service are defined and the fees associated with them will be part of a much larger effort to create a public/private partnership to move this initiative forward..."

Update: Buzz Marketing and the Blog

Two interesting articles on the rebirth of word-of-mouth marketing, now called buzzing. The angle of the story was seen through the career and business of Elisa Camahort, founder of a San Francisco marketing firm called Worker Bees. One piece was written by Jane Allen in Vault.com and the other by Sheila Ann Manuel Coggins in About.com. Both authors describe Ms. Camahort's journey to the marketing profession and how she used buzzing to do it.

I liked the articles because both described another former corporate/creative type, and it was interesting to read about Ms. Camahort's approach. She started a company, established a sophisticated web presence and began to use a unique brand building strategy with actual results. The key for me was finding a good example of subtle, effective marketing with interesting prose, flowing from a well-written blog. The more I research this newfound blogging space, the more I really appreciate that.

This should be an interesting year as more and more major and boutique ad agencies grow their business blending buzz and guerilla-like marketing tools with traditional campaigns. I was intrigued enough by how Ms. Camahort used blogs in marketing for the arts for San Francisco clients - - -
among them the Foothill Music Theatre's Blog
and The TheatreWorks Blog
that I created one for an NYC theater group called the American Theatre of Harlem. If/when I receive responses to a query that I wrote, I'll follow this post with a published article in a circulated magazine or newspaper.

That being said, let me give a free plug of the Worker Bees Hive (my shorthand for the company’s portfolio). See below:

David Curley Web Design

Flashlight Graphics

Joy Design Studio

TriDigital Inc Web Services

Carla Befera & Co. P.R.

"Silicon Veggie" in the Metro

42nd St. Moon Blog

Elisa's Personal Blog

Foothill Music Theatre's Blog

SC County Democratic Party Blog

The TheatreWorks Blog

The Worker Bees Blog




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NOTE: The original post on 1/9/05 mistakenly cited TheatreWorks, another Worker Bees client, as the blog/buzz case study. The correct client is the Foothills Music Theatre. For more information on Worker Bees, email Ms. Camahort directly at elisa@workerbees.biz. or call the company at 408.504.5708.