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Richard Schuen

Richard Schuen and Shenan Murphy know Ohio. Schuen is chief executive officer of the Columbus office of Colliers International while Murphy is chief executive officer of the Colliers office in Cincinnati. Both shared their thoughts on the performance of their markets with Midwest Real Estate News.

Midwest Real Estate News: Let’s start with Columbus. How has commercial real estate in that market been performing in these challenging economic times?
Richard Schuen: It’s never had the high s or lows that other markets have had. Thre is a lot of stability here because of that. That stability has been fostered by a more diverse economy. We have a lot of government functions here because we are the state capital. Government seems to be doing pretty well these days, and we have city, state and federal government offices in Columbus.

MWREN: Columbus benefits from the presence of Ohio State University, too, right?
Schuen: The city is home to the largest university in the country. Education is a key driver for Columbus. And it’s not just Ohio State University. There are another 15 to 20 universities within a 30-minute drive of our downtown. That gives us some stability, too. As far as healthcare goes, we have the Ohio State University hospital system. We have Ohio Health, another healthcare system in the area. We have a good distribution market here, too. We’ve been blessed with opportunities for logistics companies to locate here. Overall, we’ve been able to hold our own. I talk to friends round the country in other markets, and we are faring better than most. We are hanging in there and doing pretty well.

Shenan Murphy

MWREN: How about Cincinnati? How is it faring these days?
Shenan Murphy: My comments will echo a lot of what Richard has said about Columbus. In Southwest Ohio, which also includes Dayton, we have seen a lot of job loss. We’ve been hit hard by both the downturn of the domestic automotive business and the drop in air travel. These are both great concerns. But we have still weathered the economic downturn reasonably well. I would say that Cincinnati mirrors the Midwest in general in that way.

MWREN: Cincinnati is also a good distribution city, isn’t it?
Murphy: If you look at the population base of the United States and the ability to access that, the Midwest in general is uniquely positioned to reach over half of the United States population from a distribution standpoint. The problem we have in the Midwest is the brain drain. Many of our college graduates are gravitating to the Southeast and Southwest parts of the country. The key to success in the Midwest markets that aren’t Chicago is for governments to come up with ideas that attract businesses and keep talent here. That’s on the minds of many at the state level of Ohio.
MWREN: What are some of the benefits of the Columbus market?
Schuen: Affordability and quality of lifestyle. It is affordable here, whether you are looking at buying a home or the cost of occupying office, industrial or retail space. You combine that with quality of life when it comes to crime and safety issues, and you have a nice place to live and do business. Whether you are a landlord or an investor who wants to buy office/industrial space, there is a great opportunity to buy that product. There is some great opportunity for investors who are coming in to buy product. If you are a user of space, there is a great opportunity in this market to be an owner/user of your own building. With very market comes opportunity. In this market, that opportunity is for investors who are looking at acquiring more product.

MWREN: What about in Cincinnati?
Murphy: The same benefits hold for the Cincinnati market. I think we are getting close to the bottom portion of the cycle. I think in both markets we need 12 to 18 months for the economy to stabilize a little bit. We’ll then start to see landlords push rent a bit. Right now this is definitely an investor’s market, if you are an investor with cash.

Tags | Cincinnati, Colliers International, Columbus, industrial, Office, Retail

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