Abstracts of recent major presentations of the International Development Research Council (IDRC), the world's preeminent corporate real estate association.

"Luncheon Address by Kiplinger Letter Editor Knight Kiplinger," IDRC New England World Congress, Apr. 26, 1999: Kiplinger discussed both current and future U.S. business climate conditions, spotlighting the trends that will most affect corporate real estate and facilities management, including work-space demand restraints due to continuing activity in consolidations and mergers, and the "dispersal of business and technology." *

"Capital Market Trends Update," a Workshop Presentation at the IDRC New England World Congress, Apr. 27, 1999: Ben DeVries, principal with Ben DeVries Real Estate Counselors, identified the trends forming the context of the current capital market: low interest rates, stable property prices, improved market information and market efficiency, and more disciplined financial reporting. Other current factors to be cognizant of, he added, are strong foreign investment in the USA, financial market volatility, the introduction of the Euro and REITs' growth in public ownership of real estate assets.

Charles Hazen, CEO of Hines Corporate Properties, explained that real estate professionals have unprecedented broadness in today's available array of development, financing and investment options. And real estate pros must sort through all those options in the context of today's intense pressures to reduce occupancy and other costs, he explained.

Mike Miles, a Fidelity Management Trust Real Estate Group portfolio manager, explained out how new securities are helping drive certain market trends. *

"Value 'Additivity': A Corporate Property Strategic Model," a Workshop Presentation at the IDRC New England World Congress, Apr. 26, 1999: One of this workshop's key content elements was Roulac Group Principal Stephen Roulac's presentation, which was largely based on his 1999 white paper, "The Strategic Contribution of Superior Corporate Property Strategy." A superior property strategy is a key in achieving and maintaining competitive advantage, while "an ineffective corporate property strategy may frustrate getting access to critically valuable resources," Roulac asserted. *

"The Applicability and Use of Real Options in Real Estate Valuation," a Workshop Presentation at the IDRC New England World Congress, Apr. 26, 1999: In this workshop, University of Connecticut professor Chinmoy Ghosh outlined strategies for delaying a capital decision, which may substantially increase the transaction's value. Strategic business considerations, however, may instead dictate buying a property immediately and then renting it out, Ghosh added.

* denotes summary presentation available on web     SS