Downtown housing, conversion of vacant office space, adaptive reuse and challenges facing the commercial real estate market caused by tariffs, interest rates and uncertainty around changes in the state’s property tax structure.
Those were among the topics discussed during the Business Record’s Commercial Real Estate Trends and Issues Forum held Thursday, April 24, at the Hilton Downtown Des Moines.
Panelists included Cody Christensen, director of development services, city of Des Moines; Mike Derkenne, co-owner of Beal-Derkenne Construction; Christopher Stafford, director and senior vice president, Cushman & Wakefield Iowa Commercial Advisors; Angie Pfannkuch, president, Sidekick Development; Matt Weller, vice president of development, Hubbell Realty Co.; and Chris Trosper, director of real estate development, Opus Development Co. LLC.
Weller said development strategies are status quo in light of the market’s volatility.
He said post-COVID, investing was paused. Then prices increased, creating uncertainty. Then debt became a problem with increased interest rates. And now it’s insurance and what insurance rates are going to be.
“It’s kind of status quo,” he said. “We try to have as few variables and unknowns as possible, and hedge against what those could do in the future, but there’s always uncertainty and there’s always risk in development, that’s the nature of the business.”
Read the full article HERE.
