Each month the Business Times interviews a major player in the industrial/commercial real estate market in our region. This month Peter Benninger, president of Coldwell Banker Peter Benninger Realty answers our questions.

How did you get into the business and end up with your own agency?

After purchasing my first piece of real estate 27 years ago, my experience was such that I saw a real need for service oriented salespeople within the industry. My decision to start my own brokerage came around the time my sales volume reached its maximum potential for 1 person. I needed to expand to maintain the level of service I provided to my client base. I received my broker's license and one thing led to another.

How large is your "territory"?

Ontario real estate registrants are licensed to trade anywhere within the province of Ontario. Our residential department focuses primarily on the Waterloo Region; while our commercial associates trade throughout the entire province. When trading in residential real estate, sales reps rely on neighbourhood specific knowledge to meet their clients' needs. In commercial, the knowledge acquired is more transferable from one region to another.

Are the markets in each city different?

Yes, the markets in each city are different. Factors such as existing and future supply of land and buildings, major employers, base employment, traffic nodes, infrastructure, population and access to major markets all contribute to the diversification of each market.

I know that urban redevelopment is a specialty for your agency. When and why did you identify this as a growth market?

Three major forces caused us to look at reurbanization as a growing market place.

a) About 3 years ago we began to recognize the lack of available development land inside the urban envelope;

b) We were already recognizing municipalities like the City of Kitchener's commitment to revitalize their downtown core and surrounding neighbourhoods;

c) The Region of Waterloo in 2001 initiated a Regional Growth Management Strategy which was approved by council in June of 2003. This strategy is the framework which identifies where, when and how future residential and employment lands will be accommodated. Among other things the key elements of this strategy are reurbanization, transportation, a firm country side line and targeted green field development.

What are the special conditions or difficulties presented by urban redevelopment?

get familiar or experienced in re-urbanization

Rezoning from one use to another in existing neighbourhoods often proves to be difficult, time-consuming, and costly

Infrastructure with sufficient capacity

The clean-up of brownfield sites

More difficult land acquisitions sometimes requiring land assemblies

The economies of scale.

How hot is the market right now?

How long do you see this continuing?

We have found the market very active with the limited supply of infill development sites. Primarily, the interest in purchasing residential units in infill or reurbanized buildings comes from two demographics: the 25-35 and the 55+ markets.

What locations and types of properties are most in demand?

Currently there seems to be a pent-up demand for lofts in the core areas. The marketplace is still emerging and we feel that with a more diverse inventory the demand will increase.

Going forward, we also see a demand for well appointed townhouse projects for singles/couples with either no/or small families and also for adult lifestyle developments. There is a very strong attraction for these types of developments because of the convenience of moving into a mature, established neighbourhood that is close to all amenities such as shopping, transportation, recreational facilities. All of these existing facilities would take time to develop in a greenfield development site.

Are you seeing more interest from national and international companies planning to expand or start a facility in the Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and Guelph areas?

Yes. We are seeing more interest from both national and international companies in all sectors of the market. For example, there is considerable interest from both professional service (i.e. legal, engineering) and hi-tech companies. Rapid growth in population is also generating interest from retail and service based businesses including big box retailers and national name brand stores and restaurants.

In speaking with John Hoffman of our commercial division, he has seen aggressive, world wide interest in locating locally because of the benefits of being associated with the University of Waterloo. We expect both national and international interest in locating near the new School of Pharmacy in downtown Kitchener.

What kinds of companies are your toughest clients?

No client is so tough that you can't resolve any impending issues. However, one of the most challenging issues we deal with for clients relates the availability of (industrial) lands. The tight supply of serviced land can make it challenging to meet specific criteria.

What changes have you seen in your industry?

The speed at which data is available and the type of data available have led to higher demand/expectations of realtors. This has generated a significant increase in resources for learning/gaining knowledge. The accessibility of this information has made our clients much more knowledgeable as well. Clients are able to do a great deal of "homework" and research before they even approach a realtor for the first time.

The Building Dreams Gala your agency organized to raise money for Habitat for Humanity Waterloo on Nov. 18th was an incredibly ambitious undertaking. Were you surprised at the community response?

Our goal was to build a home in one night, and we made an early decision to hire professionals to focus on the details of the event in which they specialize. Wendy Vasco was our event planner, Straight Street Services managed the production and David Moore & Associates provided the live auction services. We know from our own industry the value of using experienced service professionals and the results show the benefit of having hired these pros. The depth of staff within our organization also contributed to our success. We had 6 staff working nearly full time preparing for this event for about 4 weeks prior to the Gala.

We are fortunate, we have a very generous community, so I was not surprised by the community response to our event - but I was very pleased with the end result. Everything we anticipated would work out, did - the music by The Carpet Frogs, the MC, Mark Paine, and the general flow of the evening. We also knew the quality and depth of our client base and they really showed up that night to show their support with the live and silent auction. As a result we surpassed our goal and raised just over $85,000 that night.