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The two speakers at the lunch session during “What Comes Next: Opportunities, Risks and Rewards,” at the 2008 DLA Piper Global Real Estate Summit held Tuesday in Chicago, were a power pair indeed: Jack Kemp, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and Republican vice-presidential nominee in 1996, and George Mitchell, former U.S. Senator (D-Maine) and currently global chairman of DLA Piper.The session’s title was “Stay Red? Go Blue? What November 4 Will Tell Us,” but the kickoff topic was the $700 billion federal bailout of the financial markets, aka TARP, or the troubled assets relief program. Though Kemp and…

Wall Street needs plumbers? That plumbing metaphor came up again during testimony today about the financial crisis. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke called credit markets the “plumbing” of the U.S. economy this morning before Congress, warning of the dire consequences if consumers and businesses turn on an empty tap. By the end of the trading day, the market seems to have said, nice going Mr. Buffet, but things are still scary otherwise, especially with Congress dickering over the bailout. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 29 points, down 0.3 per cent.As CPNnoted last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson talked of…

As Congress moved into a second day of hearings on the Bush administration’s proposed $700-billion bailout of the mortgage market, a Los Angeles Times-Bloomberg poll seemed to alter the course of the debate as the Congressional hearings began to address the public directly. According to the poll, 55 percent of Americans oppose a government bailout funded by taxpayer dollars regardless of the harm inaction might do the economy. Only 31 percent of Americans favored the bailout, said the poll. In the second day of hearings before the Joint Economic Committee, Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke fielded questions that seemed…

It was the last session in a long day, but the attendance was understandably strong at “The Outlook for Capital,” the closing session of “What Comes Next: Opportunities, Risks and Rewards,” the 2008 DLA Piper Global Real Estate Summit held Tuesday in Chicago. The panel discussion was dominated, of course, by debate and speculation about the federal government’s $700 billion bailout of the financial markets, also known as TARP, or the troubled assets relief program. Though he referred to “an excessive writedown of assets,” moderator Bruce Cohen, CEO of Chicago-based Wrightwood Capital, expressed a pervasive sentiment when he said that…

Lifetime Brands Inc., a nationally branded kitchenware, tabletop and home decor products company, is the latest casualty among retailers to announce the closing of stores. The company plans to close all of its remaining 53 outlet retail stores as well as its York, Pa., distribution center in 2009. The stores being closed by Lifetime include 39 Pfaltzgraff factory stores, eight Farberware outlet retail stores and six clearance stores. The company will continue to operate its Internet and mail order catalog businesses. Clearance sales at the stores will start Tuesday and should be completed by Dec. 31. The company has entered…

Disney Vacation Club, the Walt Disney Co.’s vacation ownership program, has revealed plans for two new resort developments at Disney’s Contemporary Resort and Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The two projects will add 355 units to the club’s vacation ownership offerings.The new 15-story Bay Lake Tower will sprout up at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, offering a total of 265 units. Sited a short walk from the Magic Kingdom Park, the building will be connected via a covered sky bridge to the existing resort, which provides access to the monorail station. Treehouse Villas at Disney’s Saratoga…

The market almost liked the prepared testimony from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke (pictured), Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox and OFHEO Director James Lockhart. After rising during morning trading, stocks dipped again in the early afternoon and the Dow Jones index ended the day down 161 points, largely due to lingering questions and concerns about the plan.Will Congress give U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson $700 billion or more to spend to bail out Wall Street, no strings attached — and with no Congressional or judicial oversight? Maybe, but with Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) calling it socialism and Christopher Dodd…

In a luncheon Q&A session with Suzann D. Silverman, editor-in-chief of Commercial Property News, at Monday’s Net Lease Summit in New York, CapLease Inc. chairman & CEO Paul McDowell (pictured) said he is glad that his firm has kept its focus on working with investment grade tenants, given that the stressed economy will likely put pressure on below-investment-grade companies. CapLease has a diversified portfolio of net lease assets, with a $2.1 billion investment grade portfolio that consists of $1.6 billion of owned properties, $291 million in mortgage loans, and $170 million in structured securities. McDowell said there has been a…

Speaking before the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke did their best to urge Congress to act sooner rather than later on their proposed $700 million bailout plan. In separate remarks, both stressed the damage to the overall U.S. economy and impact on American taxpayers should Congress delay action. “The market turmoil we are experiencing today poses great risk to U.S. taxpayers. When the financial system doesn’t work as it should, Americans’ personal savings, and the ability of consumers and businesses to finance spending, investment and job creation are threatened,” Paulson (pictured)…

The opening keynote session of “What Comes Next: Opportunities, Risks and Rewards,” the 2008 DLA Piper Global Real Estate Summit held Tuesday in Chicago, featured real estate uber-deal-maker Sam Zell (pictured) of Equity Group Investments in his usual pungent form. “This entire crisis could and should be placed on the shoulders of the accounting profession,” said Zell. Despite the many grievous mistakes made by other participants that contributed to the market’s current mess, he insisted that “without fair-market-value accounting, this whole situation would not have reached its current level.” Zell said that earlier this year, he had in fact suggested…