Construction panel high on Gold Coast, Jersey City

New Jersey’s Gold Coast region — the booming stretch of northeastern real estate running along the Hudson River near New York City — served as a springboard for much of a panel discussion hosted by NJBIZ that examined market trends across related industries.

Moderated by Hoboken Brownstone Co. President George Vallone, the April 17 panel at the Imperia in Somerset featured Citrin Cooperman Partner and Construction Industry Practice Co-Leader Scott Derco, Mints Insurance Agency Partner Frank Jones, Amboy Bank President Stan Koreyva and Connell Foley Real Estate & Land Use Group Co-Chair Nevins McCann.

Vallone, who launched his development company almost four decades ago, said the Gold Coast market has gone “way past” the proverbial seven years of feast and remains unusually active.

“When the market is really hot, people want to know what they can do to get in on it,” he said. “When it’s in a downturn, they want to know what they can do to turn that around. There has to be a strategy for both economies, whether it’s an up cycle or a down cycle.”

McCann, who works out of Jersey City, said the state’s second-most-populous city also continues to draw interest from real estate developers.

“Jersey City has been a hot real estate development market for the last 15 or 20 years,” he said. “From a residential standpoint, it makes sense why places like Jersey City and Hoboken are such hot real estate markets. The hot real estate market is in and around New York City.”

Koreyva noted the positive state of New Jersey’s construction lending market, citing a shift from sales to rentals in recent years.

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“In 2013, we came back out lending in construction in the multifamily world and as we all know, it is the hottest asset class out there today,” he said.

Jones cited emerging trends in today’s construction insurance sector have shifted the focus from liability and property.

“Those have become secondary to pollution liability, professional liability and cyber liability,” he said. “We do know that the risks have changed in the construction marketplace.”

Derco pointed to new tax laws as offering opportunities in the real estate construction sector.

“The rules are favorable to construction as far as depreciation write-offs for businesses, so there are a lot of opportunities there,” Derco said.

Vallone said the industry panel served at least a couple useful purposes for sector professionals.

“It’s about education and networking,” he said. “If you can deliver both, then you have a good conference.”