Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley is the planned keynote speaker at the sixth annual BizTimes Commercial Real Estate & Development Conference, to be held on Friday, Nov. 14, at the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee.
The annual conference has become a major networking and information event for members of southeastern Wisconsin’s commercial real estate industry. Last year, a sellout crowd of about 600 people attended the conference.
The theme of this year’s conference will be "The Fresh Coast Advantage."
The conference will focus on the strategic competitive advantage the Great Lakes region will have in the 21st century, when "water becomes the new oil." While heavily populated regions such as California, Arizona, Texas and Georgia are draining their supplies of fresh drinking water, the Great Lakes region contains 20 percent of the world’s surface freshwater and 95 percent of America’s surface freshwater.
The Milwaukee conference will explore how being positioned amid the largest supply of freshwater in the world will be a key driver of economic growth and commercial real estate development. From high-valued lakefront property to suburban communities needing Lake Michigan water to continue their growth, southeastern Wisconsin real estate development will benefit from the region’s access to the fresh water resource of the Great Lakes.
The growth of the Chicago area north along the "Fresh Coast" is already benefiting southeastern Wisconsin, driving more commercial real estate development in Kenosha County.
Daley is the invited keynote speaker of this year’s BizTimes Real Estate & Development Conference, and he will attend, barring any unforeseen emergencies related to his city.
Daley has been mayor of Chicago since 1989, following in the footsteps of his father, the late Richard J. Daley.
Chicago is one of four finalist cities being considered as the site of the 2016 Summer Olympics. If Chicago lands the Olympics, the Milwaukee area could benefit from regional infrastructure improvements and a spillover of visitors looking for accommodations near Chicago.
At the Milwaukee conference, Daley will discuss how regional collaboration between Chicago and Milwaukee will be beneficial for both cities and how being located in the Great Lakes will be a competitive asset in the 21st century.
Daley will be introduced at the conference by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. In addition to Daley, other featured panelists at this year’s BizTimes Commercial Real Estate & Development Conference will be:
- Franz Hoffman, president of Procorp Enterprises LLC in Milwaukee and chair of the Milwaukee 7 Water Council. Procorp specializes in sustainable water and wastewater treatment solutions. Hoffman will speak about the Great Lakes water resource and the need to use sustainable real estate development practices and products.
- James Randel, commercial real estate attorney, broker, investor and author. Randel is a leader in "added value" investing, an approach to real estate that attempts to boost the value of a property well beyond normal appreciation or inflation. His strategies have been followed by investors throughout the country. He is the author of "The Real Estate Game And How To Win It" and "Confessions of a Real Estate Entrepreneur." Randel is a distinguished commentator on real estate issues at conferences throughout the nation, including the Harvard Business School. A native of Ohio, Randel will speak about the future strategic advantages of developing real estate in the Great Lakes region.
- The opening remarks of the conference will be provided by Richard "Rocky" Marcoux, commissioner of the Milwaukee Department of City Development. The conference will be moderated by Mark Eppli, Ph.D., professor of finance and chair of the Robert B. Bell Real Estate Program at Marquette University.
- Jim Villa, president of the Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin (CARW), will provide an executive summary of an exclusive market outlook survey for the region at the conference.
Small Business Times presents the conference annually in partnership with Marquette’s Bell Real Estate Program and the CARW.
A special supplement, the BizTimes Commercial Real Estate & Development Book, featuring exclusive editorial content and data, will be published in conjunction with the conference.
Additional information about the conference will be available at a later date. For more information, contact BizTimes sales and marketing assistant Mary Ernst at (414) 336-3125.
