Conference Sessions

Hour 1 - Monday, April 26th - 9:00 am - 10:00 am
 
Session #101

A Survival Course: Can You Make Money Today

  • What can be developed and financed today?
  • Distressed properties: What to buy/develop and who will finance it
  • Basic course in HUD financing: What is getting financed and how to do it
  • Basic course in affordable housing

Moderator: Michael Zukerman – Managing Dir. & Founder, Whitestone Realty Capital, Inc.
Lawrence Bizjak – Managing Director, Garrison Investment Group
Holly Bray – First Vice President - Senior Loan Originator, Love Funding LLC
David Roos – Executive Vice President, Landwhite Developers LLC

Session #102

How to Attract/Secure Capital for Distressed Residential Projects

  • What is the best way to source new distressed residential deals?
  • How are banks disposing of distressed residential assets and are they ready to deal?
  • How do you re-position distressed projects (re-examining product type/density/financing to succeed)
  • How to avoid obstacles/ pitfalls with partially-built projects (liens/entitlements etc.)

Moderator:  Sean Burton – President, CityView
Richard M. Gollis – Principal, The Concord Group, LLC
Steven Magee – Senior Vice President - Land Portfolio Manager, iStar Financial

Session #103

Capital Markets Today:  What’s Getting Done?

  • Current sources of capital
  • Transacting in an illiquid market
  • Market terms
  • Impact of TALF and other US Government programs
  • A forecast for 2010

Moderator:  Steve Fried - Director, Mesa West Capital
Thomas Traynor – Partner, Deutsche Bank Securities
Hugh Jackson – Partner, Highridge Partners
Brian Halpern – Senior Vice President, CB Richard Ellis
David Tindall – Senior Vice President, NBS Real Estate Capital

Hour 2 - Monday, April 26th - 10:45 am - 11:45 am
 
Session #201

How Will the Distressed Real Estate Market Play Out?...Or Will It?

  • Is distressed debt selling at distressed prices (ie Has the bid/ask gap narrowed?)
  • Are there distressed sellers? Or just distressed assets?
  • How will 2010/2011 differ from 2009 as it pertains to the distressed debt market? And will it be similar to the RTC days?
  • What assumptions do you use when underwriting distressed debt? What are your yield requirements?
  • What creative structures have you utilized to acquire or finance discounted debt?

Moderator:  Spencer Garfield – Managing Director, Hudson Realty Capital LLC
Shawn Rosenthal – Principal, The Ackman Ziff Real Estate Group
Brett Forman – President, CR South / Forman Capital, LLC
Marc S. Shapiro, Esq. – Partner, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

Session #202

Retail - Not a Commodity

  • Unique in kind-discernment required
  • Changing cultural shopping patterns and preferences
  • Creative lease up-reaching into the old bag of tricks
  • The hidden coming wave for retailers and why

Moderator:  Nick Hannon – Senior Vice President, Territory Inc.
James Manarino – President, Manarino & Associates
Marvin Schnee – President, Read Properties
Matt Bear – Principal, Horizon Real Estate Advisors
Karl D. Francetic – Director of Developer Finance, National Retail Properties, Inc. (NYSE:NNN)

Session #203

Hotels: Is Now the Time to Invest?

  • Have we reached the bottom?
  • Does financing exist?  When will the banks get back in the game?
  • How are banks disposing of distressed hotels?  How do I gain access to these opportunities?
  • Where are the best opportunities for acquisition / development?  Urban vs. secondary markets?  Luxury vs. select-service?
  • How do I evaluate an opportunity?  What are the current valuation metrics?

Moderator:  Shawn Campbell – Managing Director, Hotel Financial Strategies
H. Keith Thompson – Principal, Hotel Assets Group, LLC - Hotel AG
Richard T. Sprecher, CHA – VP of Business Development, Aimbridge Hospitality, LP
Robert Sonnenblick – Chairman Emeritas, Sonnenblick Del Rio Development Co.
Russell Dazzio – Chairman, R&R Global Hospitality

Hour 3 - Monday, April 26th - 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
 
Session #301

Distressed Assets:  Where to Find Them and What to Look For?

  • Where are the troubled assets and distressed opportunities?
  • How do you source distressed deals?
  • How do you finance the acquisition of a deal?
  • What to look for in troubled assets?

Moderator:  Jerome A. Fink – Managing Partner, The Bascom Group, LLC
Henry J.H. Bandet – President, HG Capital, LLC
Trevor Wilson – Senior Director, Broadreach Capital Partners
Bryan C. Crane – Vice President, JPMorgan Real Estate Partners, L.P.
Danuel R. Stanger – Chief Investment Officer, Bridge Investment Group / ROC Fund

Session #302

Apartment Finance Update - Q1 2010

  • Then and now in apartment finance
  • Programs: Fannie, Freddie, FHA, banks, hard money
  • Loan Scenarios

Moderator: John Barbie, CMB – Vice President, PNC Real Estate
Allan Freedman – Vice President, Multifamily Finance, Berkadia Commercial Mortgage
Adam Zarembok – President, Hobart Financial Group
Kristen Croxton – Vice President Origination, Deutsche Bank Berkshire Mortgage, Inc.

Session #303

Building (and Destroying) Your Personal Brand

  • Position yourself as the “go-to” expert (not an idiot)
  • Leveraging the power of the social media revolution
  • Review low cost & no cost social media options (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, e-newsletter, YouTube and blog) and networking tools (XOBNI & Gist)
  • Know me, like me, trust me… pay me

Moderator:  David Repka – Principal, Bison Financial Group
Dr. Diana Driscoll, O.D. LEED AP – Chief Executive Officer, Ridgeline Hospitality, LLC
M. Jeffrey Vinzani, Esq. – Partner, Nexsen Pruet, LLC
Devin Lee, CCIM – President, Access Commercial Mortgage
William C. Reichard – Principal, CrossCut Communications
JW Najarian, Emerald Bay Investments, LLC

Hour 4 - Monday, April 26th - 2:45 pm - 4:00 pm
 
Session #401

Distressed Assets – Meet the Buyers

  • What are they buying in 2010
  • Posing or closing?
  • Sellers introduce yourself
  • Let’s discuss deals

Moderator:  Doug Esteves – Principal, Developers Capital Funding, Corp.
Henry J.H. Bandet – President, HG Capital, LLC
Charles Hill – Managing Director, Strategic Realty Capital LLC
Jeff Meyers – Principal, Meyers Builder Advisors
Sean K. Dalfen – Managing Director, Dalfen America Corp.

Hour 5 - Tuesday, April 27th - 9:00 am - 10:00 am
 
Session #501

Where is the Residential Market Heading in 2010/2011?

  • Where are we in the housing cycle?
  • Which metros will likely be earlier to recover and why, which will be later and why?
  • What factors to look for to see stabilization?
  • Will merger and acquisition activity resume – when and why?
  • Where are the next opportunities?
  • What to do with existing communities?

Moderator:  Anthony Botte – Senior Vice President - Western Region, Hearthstone
Jeff Meyers – Principal, Meyers Builder Advisors
Michael Wilkinson – Vice President Finance, Focus Property Group
Jody Kahn – Vice President, John Burns Real Estate Consulting

Session #502

Distressed/Opportunity Funds: How to Form a Fund in Today's Market?

  • What are the critical items necessary to form a fund?
  • Raising capital for individual / one-off transactions vs. in the form of a blind fund
  • What are the optimal target audiences for capital? (pension, private equity, high net worth, etc.)
  • Do these targets change based on specific fund type, geography, deal size, etc.?
  • Are institutional investors placing capital in residential opportunities?

Moderator:  Daniel Fowler – Chief Executive Officer, Connaught Real Estate Finance, LLC
Kenneth S. Pinsky, CPA – Partner, Warady & Davis LLP
Jay Rollins – President, JCR Capital
Leslie Lundin – Managing Partner, LBG Realty Advisors, LLC

Hour 6 - Tuesday, April 27th - 10:15 am - 11:15 am
 
Session #601

Site Incentives, Tax Credits and Tax Strategies...Are They the Difference Between Success and Failure?

  • Would significant low interest financing help your cash flow?
  • Would a tax sharing rebate improve your bottom line?
  • Would additional "equity" help you leverage bank financing?
  • Would a significant reduction in your tax burden improve your bottom line?
  • Would significant upfront funds help you jump start your project?

Moderator:  Bruce Ryals – President, Tax Credit Management
John Hostetler – Director Business Development, Bedford Cost Segregation
Dan McRae – Partner, Seyfarth & Shaw, LLP

Session #602

Land Investment and the Future of Development

  • Land investment…where do we go from here?
  • Where are the great deals?
  • When will banks start selling at a price that makes sense?
  • What has to be done to retain/create value?
  • When will it make sense to start development (horizontal improvements) again?
  • Will banks finance land again?
  • Will homebuilders become developers again?

Moderator:  Marji Knitter – President, The Moote Group
William Shopoff – President & Chief Executive Officer, The Shopoff Group, L.P.
Tom Dallape – Principal, The Hoffman Company
Jason Kliewer – Partner & General Counsel Trumark Companies LLC
Amy Price – Managing Director, Morgan Stanley

Session #603

Effectively Managing Loan Workouts

  • How can you restructure and recapitalize your deal to make it work for everyone
  • Building a realistic workout plan.  Making hard decisions
  • Key issues that will affect negotiations: Market intelligence, bankruptcy, lender liability, etc.

Moderator:  Cory Williams – Partner, SDI Realty Group
Andrew Kirsh – Partner, Raines Law Group
Christopher Grey – Managing Partner, Third Wave Partners

Hour 7 - Tuesday, April 27th - 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
 
Session #701

Private Capital - In a Chaotic Market

  • Meet the lenders
  • What deals get done in 2010
  • Funding situational – storied deals
  • Lenders or buyers in disguise?

Moderator:  Doug Esteves – Principal, Developers Capital Funding, Corp.
George Blackburne – President, Blackburne & Sons
Joseph Forman – Chief Executive Officer, Bond Street Capital Companies
Peter Fioretti – Chief Executive Officer, Mountain Funding

Session #702

Life Companies

  • Bullets To Be Announced

Moderator:  Steven Hinds – Partner, George Elkins Mortgage
Rick M. Gillett – Investment Officer, John Hancock Real Estate Finance
Mark C. Elsaesser – Director of Commercial Mortgage Loans, Summit Investment Partners