Real estate exec briefs WCA audience on particulars of global development

Urbanization by way of the world”™s emerging markets presents significant opportunities for U.S businesses.

That was the top takeaway from keynote speaker Katherine Farley”™s speech at the Westchester County Association”™s annual leadership dinner and APEX Awards Nov. 9 in Tarrytown.

“In each case, you see rising levels of personal wealth and the emergence of a big middle class,” said the senior managing director of New York-based real estate company Tishman Speyer, who also is chairman of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. “You see an increasingly large consumer base and a large labor pool, so that attracts all kinds of businesses in these countries, and those businesses means business for real estate people.”

In a local sense, Westchester”™s proximity to New York City, one of the world”™s major finance and trade hubs, presents viable housing and office opportunities for New York businesses.

“If you look to the west of Pudong (in China) in 1990, think of it as if you”™re looking across from midtown Manhattan to Brooklyn or Queens,” Farley said. “At the time, it was industrial, low to mid-rise office buildings. The government decided it should be a new financial area and they made it happen.”

By 2004, new buildings were constructed and by 2009, there was a brand-new skyline.

“The government can say, ”˜See that area in China we just created? If you want to have a permit for your company to operate, welcome to your new office,”™” Farley said. “It”™s been a great real estate success.”

The real key is the cooperation between private companies and the support of governments in forging new housing and office markets, she said.

What characterizes an emerging market?

• Strong economic growth patterns;
• Stable economic policies;
• Rising levels of personal wealth;
• Emergence of a middle class;
• Large consumer base and labor pool;
• Limited supply of class-A buildings; and
• Limited supply of housing for middle class.