The Rooster crowed at the crack of dawn last Tuesday, as Jones Lang LaSalle hosted its Atlanta Real Estate Reforecast Breakfast, which included a panel discussion lead by JLL Americas Research Director Ben Breslau with commentary from Tom Coakley, Regional Director of Real Estate Investments at MetLife; Chris Eachus, Vice President and partner at Crocker Partners; Andrew Kauss, a partner at Kilpatrick Stockton; and Regent Partners Principal David Tennery.

Highlights:

"The message is that there is money out there and other life companies, just like us, are trying to get money out there," said Coakley, who anticipates MetLife will fund $6 billion total this year after approximately $4 billion last year. "This is one of the best lending markets we've seen in a long time."

MetLife is going to borrowers long before maturities to talk through the cycle. There's not a deal out there that doesn't have to be resized, Coakley said.  "If you're transparent with your lenders, I think you'll see them offer a lot of help, at least with life lenders," he said.

Breslau then asked Regent's Tennery about ownership's approach to finance and whether or not he's seeing financing available for core, stabilized properties.

"I sure as hell hope so," Tennery said. "We're about to find out. If you don't have a good, solid piece of real estate and you financed it with bubble gum and baling wire, you're going to end up on the courthouse steps."
Tenant advocate Kauss touched on tenants' necessity to understand not only a landlord's financial stability but also its lenders' stability.

"I've always been struck by the disconnect between lenders who expect tenants to move in and pay rent from the beginning come hell or high water but resisted the direct responsibility to fund TI," Kauss said.

Crocker's Eachus expects tenants to continue to give back space this year, as he's seeing an increase in activity but not necessarily demand.

"There's a lot of office space not being used by people who are paying rent," Eachus said. "There's just some fat we need to burn off. The good story here is that we have great growth.

"The oversupply has happened," Eachus said. "It's not going to happen again in the next five years."