Economic forecast: Retailing, commercial development, commercial real estate, community development and nonprofits | Jax Daily Record | Jacksonville Daily Record
RETAIL TRADE
Frank Wallmeyer
Owner and President, Standard Feed and Seed Inc.
Frank Wallmeyer
Main problem: inflation, that is the sum of higher raw material, labor, energy and freight costs plus the costs of disrupting the supply chain.
In order to lessen the blow for our customers, we are forced to be particularly careful when it comes to procurement and to ask a lot of questions.
Are we sure we are getting the best price? Should we consider using a different provider? Is there an acceptable substitute? How much does freight cost? What are the conditions? Can we get guaranteed prices by pre-ordering? And what can we do to become smarter, more efficient and to better control business spending? How long can we hold our prices before we have to increase them?
Ultimately, we cannot stop or prevent inflation, but we can do everything in our power to mitigate the harmful effects on our customers.
COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Ben Hakimian
President, Hakimian Holdings Inc.
Ben Hakimian
Main topic: As a commercial property purchase and renovation company, it is becoming more and more difficult to find offers at an economically sensible price.
There is a kind of “buy everything” mood in the market across the country, fueled primarily by low interest rates and higher inflation forecasts.
The real estate industry as a whole is cyclical in nature and while this new environment has made the expansion phase longer than a normal cycle, nothing goes up forever.
There is an old saying in the real estate industry that “when laypeople start investing, this is the beginning of the end for growth” and we see a lot of it happening.
With this in mind, we have refinanced many of our properties and, in anticipation of the downturn, built a higher liquidity position, which we believe will offer more opportunities with stronger fundamentals and a higher return on investment.
COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
David Smith
President, Smith McKee Construction LLC; 2022 President, NAIOP Northeast Florida
David Smith
Main topic: The change in the workforce.
The current labor shortage in the supply chain and logistics as well as the development of the office workplace have a wide range of effects on the commercial real estate industry.
In this environment, the reaction strategy must be geared towards offering creative solutions and alternatives to traditional procedures, means and methods in order to meet market requirements.
This requires customers to have the right expectations early on in the process and proactively offer actions that meet their needs while mitigating cost and schedule issues.
Communication, as always, is vital as the parties need to provide a high level of transparency and flexibility at all stages of the transaction and delivery process as the CRE teams help address the evolving challenges of this market.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Travis L. Williams
Vice President of Operations and Impact, LIFT JAX
Travis L. Williams
Main Problem: Ensuring that the ongoing economic recovery reaches all communities fairly.
LIFT JAX has brought together leaders from business, philanthropy, civil society and communities to address these challenges by implementing the Purpose Built Communities approach to neighborhood revitalization.
This location-based approach to community transformation is based on four pillars: mixed-income living, community wellbeing, education from cradle to career entry, and long-term financial vitality.
We have been fortunate to work with the Historic Eastside Community to implement this approach and bring this national model to Jacksonville. In 2022, we plan to do our part to ensure that community development work is well thought out, strategic, tax backed, and “with” rather than “for” the community.
We also work to ensure that the advances we make are sustainable. Our partnership with community leaders and organizations, particularly the Historic Eastside CDC, is critical to ensuring sustainability and developing solutions that residents want to see in their own neighborhood.
NON-PROFIT
Mari Kuraishi
President and CEO, Jessie Ball duPont Fund
Mari Kuraishi
Main problem: The upward pressure on wages and many critical inputs.
This may sound like these are universal problems that the entire economy is facing, but unlike the for-profit sector, the non-profit sector cannot pass the higher prices on to consumers.
The double punch also comes from the fact that the wages of nonprofits are typically below those of the for-profit sector. As a scholarship foundation with longstanding relationships with many of our scholarship holders, the duPont Fund introduced experience-oriented training programs in 2020 to improve our scholarship holders’ ability to cope with the rapid pace of change.
We heard from our 2019 fellows that they appreciate the support beyond the grant dollars. The capacity-building programs are designed to increase transparency and build trust; Listen to customers and voters and respond to this feedback; Improving digital fundraising skills; and how to build diverse, equitable and integrative boards.
More than 120 fellows have participated in our programs and we look forward to continuing them.
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