Boston, MA The SIOR New England Chapter held its annual summer joint event with the New England Chapter of CCIM on July 23^rd. The cocktail evening event was held at the Intercontinental Hotel and 50-60 SIOR, CCIM, guests and sponsors were in attendance, The event went from 6pm to 9pm and many of the attendees had been attending the New England ICSC conference being held in the city. Many of the attendees also traveled in from Portland, Manchester and Providence. The reception included heavy hors d’ouevres and a cash bar. It was a networking event that allowed everyone to see old friends and catch up on industry trends, market conditions and summer life.

During the reception, Demetrius Spaneas, CCIM New England chapter president and president of Land & Sea Real Estate, welcomed everyone and spoke about the CCIM organization and the mer-its of its educational curriculum. He stated that the New England Chapter helps to bring CCIM education and programs to the New England region to allow its members to remain on the cutting edge of commercial real estate while networking. The New England chapter encompasses MA, NH, ME, RI and VT. Spaneas then introduced the SIOR New England Chapter vice-president George Paskalis of MG Commercial, Providence. Paskalis spoke about the genesis of the SIOR organization as the Society of Industrial Realtors that started at the request of the War Department during WWII. The War Dept. wanted to identify industrial real estate specialists that could identify buildings to be used to manufacture ammunition for the war cause. Paskalis went on to mention that in 1986, SIR adopted the office brokers and became SIOR, a designation of the most elite office and industrial brokers. There are approximately 3,300 SIOR worldwide. Paskalis explained the application process being a combination of volume, dollar amount and commissions over a five-year period, SIOR education requirements, sponsors and the fulfilling Code of Ethics course. He mentioned that the New England Chapter comprises of approximately 50 members from VT, ME, NH, MA and RI. In the past the New England SIOR Chapter would hold 12 events a year but has reduced that number to eight events. Those eight events include a beginning of the year market review, a spring golf outing, the fall golf outing that is followed by the scholarship evening event in which one up and coming broker is selected for a scholarship to an SIOR educational event. There is also an end of the year market review. There is also a winter hockey event that has become very popular. The SIOR chapter has held joint events with the local chapters of NAIOP, CREW, CCIM and others.

Also in attendance and contributed was Greg Klemmer, SIOR past chapter president and chapter SIOR board members, Mike Dalton, Chris Paszyc and David Gilkie. past SIOR chapter president Rob Nahigian, SIOR was also in attendance, and it was announced that he was invited to be a national speaker on logistics supply chain at the upcoming September CCIM Global Summit in Hollywood, Florida. Sponsors spotted in attendance included Dacon, Vantage Builders, and ARCO.