While the recovery is likely to be long and slow, speakers at the Annual Real Estate Forecast Conference sponsored by the Maine Real Estate & Development Association (MEREDA) generally see the economy improving in 2010.
A record 550 real estate developers, brokers, architects, bankers, attorneys, accountants and other professionals gathered at our popular annual conference in Portland on January 28 to hear economists and leading members of the commercial real estate industry give their predictions for the coming year in various market sectors.
MEREDA President Ray Cota also noted that 2010 marks the 25th anniversary of the statewide association. “Twenty-five years ago, policy affecting our industry was made without our input or, at the most, with a disjointed effort on the part of a few of our real estate ancestors,” said Cota, who is vice president of Webber Oil Company in Bangor. “Today, I’m pleased to report that we are a known quantity at the policy making level and the quality of our testimony and our participation at the committee level is respected. We have forged important relationships in Augusta with the key legislators and policy makers.”
The conference featured forecasts for various real estate sectors in major Maine markets, as well as welcoming remarks from Maine Governor John Baldacci, a panel discussion on Maine’s economy with Maine Development Foundation President Laurie Lachance, Muskie School of Public Service Professor Charles Colgan, and Larry Wold, market president of TD Bank in Maine.
MEREDA’s Sixth Annual Member Showcase, where 60 MEREDA members exhibited their products and services, also was held in conjunction with the forecast conference. The conference and member exhibits provide a major informational and networking opportunity each year for members of Maine’s commercial real estate industry.
Links to copies of the presentation by various Maine real estate professionals and other experts at the conference can be found here.
Founded in 1985, MEREDA is an organization of commercial real estate owners, developers and related service providers, whose mission is to promote an environment for responsible development and ownership of real estate throughout the State of Maine.
