For developers able to roll with the recession’s punches, some new activity in markets this fall has owners and lenders finally mustering some optimism and cautiously returning to the fray.
“Not so bad is the new good,” says Joe Coradino, executive vice president at Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust. He made the observation in September while on a discussion panel at Philadelphia’s Urban Land Institute, where regional developers echoed other builders around the nation that the first signs of recovery are evident in projects in the government, medical, education and hospitality markets.