NEW YORK—Four men who own a large chunk of the New York cityscape got together on Tuesday to talk business.
At the annual Real Estate Expo held at Columbia University, John Catsimatidis, chairman and CEO of the Red Apple Group; Richard Mack, North American CEO of Area Property Partners; Steven Witkoff, founder and CEO of the Witkoff Group; and Richard Dansereau, head of Investor Relations for Stonehenge Partners Inc., discussed their investments and their overall projections for real estate trends in the city.
Hotels figure big in the future, for better or for worse.
Over the next three years, 140 new hotels will spring up around the city. That’s the buzz on the blogs, anyway, according to panel moderator and president of New York Real Estate TV, Michael Stoler.
Mack, who is heavily involved in the hospitality industry, says he has been seriously considering building hotels but has decided against it.
Changing zoning laws and increased tourism are likely to boost the market, but he thinks eager developers will over-saturate the market.
The panelists agreed that the hotel industry is different than traditional real estate and requires a special type of business acumen.
Dansereau explained that the hotel business is cyclical and he has rarely seen anyone make money on it long term.
While the hotel market may become over-saturated, Mack says the retail market in the New York metro area is under-saturated. It’s one of the few places in the country where this is the case, said Mack. He says it’s a good investment “if you can have some staying power.”
Catsimatidis commented on the state of economic recovery as reflected in the real estate industry.
“It’s like flying a four-engine aircraft on three engines. You’re not going down—hopefully you’re not going down—but you’re not rising very fast either.”
