“The fact that MEREDA has been sensible and balanced in dealing with complicated real estate issues says a lot about the way the organization approaches its mission. Real estate development often gets a bad rap, so it’s important to belong to an organization that can appreciate the perspectives of the various competing interests and strive for some common ground.”

“The thing I liked most about the Spring Conference so far was listening to former Governor King and listening to Gunnar talk about sustainability and talk about in a very thoughtful way the trends that are facing us, and not just recycling another presentation but really engaging with the audience and really putting some thought behind what they were doing.

The thing I like best about being a member of MEREDA is it’s an organization that’s looking out for me in Augusta and other places while I’m out doing what I do. I can go be a developer and still a lot of the stuff that I would advocate for if I had more time, I can rest easy knowing that MEREDA is advocating for it, for me. “

“Being outsiders, MEREDA has been a great introduction to the real estate community in Maine. It’s been a very good thing for us.”

“There’s a ton of benefits to becoming a member of MEREDA. MEREDA is an advocate so it’s helping the industry. I’m on the commercial lending side so to the extent we’re able to develop; I’m able to finance those things, so that’s good. The educational piece, and this is an example of it [the 2011 Spring Conference], you learn an awful lot from the best people in the industry through what MEREDA does. There’s also a very good networking capability here. Again you take a look at the breaks here, they have breakfast sessions as well, and social gatherings and anybody really who’s involved in the commercial real estate business, it’s not just the developers, it’s the brokers, it’s the bankers, it’s the architects, it’s everybody, they’re all there, all in one spot and so that’s a huge benefit.”