JERSEY BOYS (AND GALS)

May 2, 2011 | 8:00 am ET Staff Reporter

Cautious optimism is coming back to New Jersey’s urban areas, says Reznick Group’s Darren Lis (right, with Commonwealth Land Title Insurances’ Annamarie Kovacik, Trazon’s Kathi Sica, and Scholes Electric & Communications’ Ken Morris), one of the 300 attendees at Bisnow’s The Future of NJ’s Urban Centers event at Waterfront Corporate Center in Hoboken last Wednesday.

Reznick is currently helping St. Peter’s College with new market tax credits for a development project in Jersey City. Kathi says real estate auctioneer Tranzon has four projects in the Tri-State up for bid, including a golf course in Waterbury, Conn. Even before the firm released the property info packet, there was already 7,000 hits on the website. It’s great to hear that legs are returning to the market (just as long as the Jersey Shore cast leaves their tanned gams in Italy).

Just like the window behind them, life’s looking bright for engineers Alan Brandies of Whitman and Bill Hamilton of Omland Engineering (center and right, with Equinox Financial’s Len Kanarek). Bill says there’s been increased interest from developers who are planning to commence construction in ’12 and ’13, mostly along New Jersey’s waterfront and cities (and to a lesser extent, the ‘burbs). Alan, who does environmental consulting, points out this also includes developers who had shelved projects. “Phones are ringing again,” he says.

Among attendees enjoying the cocktail hour, courtesy of Chivas: HFF’s Kevin O’Hearn, Real Estate Arts’ Michael Goodgold, and HFF’s Jon Mikula. Kevin and Jon are repping AIG on a 7,000-unit portfolio that’s being sold in Middlesex and Monmouth counties (Jon’s advising on the loan assumption and new acquisition financing, while Kevin is working with HFF’s Jose Cruz, Andrew Scandalios, and Jeff Julien on the actual sale). The first pool, which totals 2,200 units, is under contract, while the rest of the portfolio will be sold in separate pools, the next to hit the market shortly. Michael, who’s behind many of the industry’s shiny property brochures, is working on the branding and website for Mack-Cali’s Harborside Financial Center in Jersey City.

S3X’s Stuart Koperweis, Brown Harris Steven’s Dusty Bricker, and Massey Knakal’s Kobi Leifer. Stuart, whose firm assists in economic development and public-private partnerships, says that in the past, the Garden State saw a flight of urban tenants to the 'burbs. Now incentives are luring tenants back to the urban areas, “a complete reversal of the ‘60s.” This raises two questions: how do we moderate the transfer without keeping the 'burbs in limbo, and are we incentivizing new job growth or the transfer of existing jobs?

And the award for the person who traveled the farthest goes to CDC’s John Rovi, right, who joined us from Dallas with colleague Tammy Forner (a little closer, from Connecticut) and SBLM Architects’ Joshua Burdick. CDC, which primarily focuses on curtain wall consulting, did work for the New Meadowlands Stadium and Atlantic City’s Revel Hotel & Casino.

JERSEY BOYS (AND GALS)

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