SIOR hosts first landlord breakfast of 2014 with National Development

In late January, SIOR's New England chapter hosted its first landlord breakfast of the new year. The event featured National Development, one of New England's leading real estate development and investment firms. Held at Unicorn Park, the breakfast was one of the most successful to-date, with over 55 attendees. The Breakfast Series is an integral part of the chapters' event calendar and serves as a key component to attract and retain members. The breakfast stands as a networking and educational event with a presentation, question and answer session over breakfast. During the event, a team from National Development presented five key properties with a mix of retail-lifestyle amenities from their portfolio to highlight the urbanization trend expanding to the suburb market. Tom Alperin, president; Jerome Kyllingstad, vice president, asset management; Andrew Gallinaro, director, acquisitions/asset management and Leah Harsfield, assistant vice president, displayed the following properties: * New England Executive Park, a 1 million s/f, 10-building office campus in Burlington, MA; * MetroNorth Corporate Center, a 1.3 million s/f office park in Woburn; * MetroNorth Retail Center, a 163,000 s/f community center in Woburn; * Unicorn Park, a 600,000 s/f premier suburban office park in Wobun; and * Marketstreet Lynnfield, a 395,000 s/f Main Street retail center with over 60 fine shops and restaurants in Lynnfield, MA. During the question and answer portion of the presentation, members of the audience inquired as to the vitality of the suburbs market given all of the recent growth and new developments in the city. Alperin and the National Development team discussed that the suburbs are not dead and tenants are looking for more open, collaborative and inclusive work spaces. Given the recent urbanization trend, many offices in the suburbs have turned mixed-use with majority of office space. For example, New England Executive Park includes office, commercial and retail space along with hotels and structured parking. Unicorn Park, the 600,000 s/f office park, features two fitness centers, three cafeterias and is adjacent to the 192-room Marriott Courtyard Hotel and a nine-hole municipal golf course. The next landlord breakfast is scheduled to be held in April. For more information, please visit the newly designed SIOR New England Chapter's website at: www.siorne.com