The point still needs emphasizing: the new Panama Canal will cause a paradigm shift in trade, explained Keller Williams managing director Diego Leiva. The two East Coast ports that will benefit the most: Miami and New York. (And Panama City, Fla., might get a few more confused tourists.)
Diego (based in the company’s Coral Gables office) was a panelist at EisnerAmper’s recent panel on how expansion of the canal and the Port of NY & NJ will spur real estate opportunities. Beginning as soon as 2015, a new class of megaships longer than the Empire State building is tall (did they measure by tipping the Empire State Building, or standing the ships upright?), along with new mega cruise ships (5,000-plus passengers) will be able to go through the Panama Canal, says Diego. Most goods from Asia to the USA presently arrive in the West Coast, but now Asian exporters are looking hard at East Coast ports.
Successful ports have stimulated real estate development in other parts of the world, with Hong Kong and Dubai as prime examples. Diego also predicted that there will be more manufacturing jobs near ports (think Miami) to export out of US, because of the high-brand recognition of "Made in USA." Other participants at the event included NY/NJ Port Authority Commissioner Jeffrey Moerdler, Keller Williams co-founder Joe Williams, and former NY Gov. David Paterson. Photo: Danny Cornelissen.
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