Monthly Archives: June 2017

GOLF FOR GOOD: NAIOP Raises $200,000 for Heading Home

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checkNAIOP Massachusetts held its 29th Annual Charitable Golf Tournament on June 22nd, raising $200,000 to support Heading Home, Inc.’s programs to end homelessness. The amount brings the total amount donated to Heading Home to more than $2.9 million and maintains NAIOP’s role as Heading Home’s largest corporate donor. Heading Home’s mission is to end homelessness in Greater Boston by providing a supported pathway to self-sufficiency that begins with a home, together with critical services such as life skills, financial literacy, and job training. To learn more about Heading Home and the vital services it provides, please visit www.headinghomeinc.org.

Our industry continues to come together, in good times and bad, to show support for the homeless families and individuals served by Heading Home. We are especially proud of our member volunteers, our staff, and our generous donors who helped us reach our goal for this donation. Special thanks goes to our Golf Committee and John Myers of Redgate, in particular, who chaired the event committee.

Held at a new location this year, The International, this signature CRE tournament drew nearly 270 golfers from all sectors of the commercial real estate industry for a day of fun, networking, and fundraising. The International is a golfer’s paradise that features two award-winning 18-hole golf courses, including The Pines, designed by Robert Trent Jones.

NAIOP Massachusetts thanks this year’s many sponsors and donors who gave so generously to this event, particularly Redgate, who served as Platinum Sponsor; Gold Sponsors National Development, New England Development and Newmark Grubb Knight Frank; and Pin Flag Sponsor Callahan Construction Managers. It is only through their support that the tournament is able to raise funds needed to help Heading Home accomplish its goal of ending family homelessness.

We are already looking forward to June 14, 2018 for another great tournament and, together, taking one more step towards ending homeless.

Choosing Massachusetts for Business: Key Factors in Location Decision Making

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Zakim_SkyA study commissioned by the non-partisan economic development organization, MassEcon, and conducted by the UMass Donahue Institute‘s Economic and Public Policy Research group, was recently released. The good news is that the vast majority of companies that chose Massachusetts as a place to expand their business would do it again. This consensus was largely based on Massachusetts’ innovative economy, industry clusters, and skilled workforce.

As with all good news, there are some troubling challenges and concerns that were voiced by the businesses about future growth in the Commonwealth:

  • TRANSPORTATION: Companies in Greater Boston are concerned about highway congestion and public transit capacity, while businesses outside the urban core worry about a shortage of public transportation. MBTA reliability is vital to the ability to attract and retain workers, expressing concerns that not enough is being done to accommodate a growing population.
  • HOUSING: The availability and affordability of housing was a significant concern statewide, a challenge to attracting and keeping employees, especially younger employees. Costs in Greater Boston, in particular, are inordinately high, limiting options for low and middle-income workers.
  • BUSINESS COSTS: In general, for companies locating in Greater Boston the advantage of skilled labor outweighed various higher business costs; but labor, health care, and energy costs were identified as challenges to business in Massachusetts. Business costs seemed to be of less concern to those companies that considered and compared other states than to those already doing business in the Commonwealth. Companies engaged in manufacturing were more sensitive to cost challenges of health care and energy than companies in Greater Boston.
  • QUALITY OF FUTURE LABOR SUPPLY: Although more than 90 percent of survey respondents said the availability and quality of the workforce were important to their decision to locate in Massachusetts, some companies are struggling to find enough technically trained workers and those with middle-level skills. Continuing to produce talented labor must be a priority for the state, respondents indicated.
  • ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE: While over half of the businesses surveyed were solidly favorable about the effectiveness of economic development officials in helping them become established in Massachusetts, others reported that the system is confusing.  Some said they sought a “roadmap” with which to navigate the various economic development organizations.

The Commonwealth has been experiencing one of the best periods of economic growth in its recent history. The problem with success is that it sometimes breeds complacency. If we are to maintain and enhance our position as one of the best locations to grow a business, we had better heed the warnings and fix our own house before it begins to lose its luster against all the many worldwide competing centers for growth.