Grubb & Ellis to host annual Forecast Breakfast.

On January 20th, the New Jersey office of Grubb & Ellis will once again host their annual Forecast Breakfast at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ from 8:30 to 11 a.m. The Forecast Breakfast provides clients of Grubb & Ellis with insights into the future trends of the real estate industry and the economy at large.

This year's distinguished panelists at the Forecast Breakfast will include Richard Previdi, president of Wellsford Commercial Properties Trust; Ted Zangari, Esq., partner in Sills Cummis Radin Tischman Epstein & Gross, PA; Wayne Ayers, Chief Economist of Fleet Boston Financial; and Peter A. Goodell, CRE, MAI, national director of Landauer Realty Group (a Grubb & Ellis Company). The moderator is Joseph R. Romano, executive vice president/managing director of Grubb & Ellis Company.

Richard R. Previdi is the president of Wellsford Commercial Properties Trust. Previdi founded the company in 1997 and has managed all aspects of its operations and acquisitions since its inception. Wellsford Commercial's core business is the redevelopment, rehabilitation and/or repositioning of well located but underutilized assets into Class A office buildings. To date, the company has acquired assets totaling approximately $650 million, and opened offices in Northern New Jersey, Boston and Washington, D.C.

Ted Zangari is a partner in the real estate practice group of the Sills Cummis law firm in Newark. Ted concentrates his practice on the development and leasing of commercial real estate throughout the U.S. He has extensive experience representing many of the country's well-known developers, as well as many Fortune 500 tenants in office, warehouse and retail lease transactions. Ted is a legal columnist for several real estate publications. He is also the co-chair of ICSC's Governmental Committee.

Peter A. Goodell is the national director of the Landauer Realty Group and oversees the valuation and consulting activities throughout the firm. Prior to joining Landauer, Goodell was a principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in its Financial Advisory Services Practice. Goodell's career includes over 20 years of real estate valuation, counseling, independent fiduciary and litigation support activities. Goodell is a member of the Appraisal Institute (MAI) and the Counselors of Real Estate (CRE). He holds a BA degree in Education from the Washington Bible College in Lanham, Maryland and is currently licensed as a Certified General Real Estate Appraiser in numerous states throughout the U.S.

Wayne Ayers is the Chief Economist at Fleet Boston Financial and serves as the principal economic advisor to the senior management of the corporation, providing analytic guidance to funding, portfolio, lending and strategic planning decisions. He is also responsible for managing, coordinating and integrating the research of the corporation's global network of economists, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Ayers also regularly advises business, government and community leaders on economic and financial issues and is a member of the board of directors of Associated Industries of Massachusetts. In 1998-99, be served as chairman of the Economic Advisory Committee of the American Bankers Association. He holds a BA from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in Economics from Cornell University. Prior to joining Bank Boston in 1979, he was an economist for the board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C. Ayers has also been an Adjunct Professor of Economics at Boston University's Graduate School of Management.

"Our 2000 Real Estate Forecast will be the most important gathering of real estate experts in the new millennium," said Joe Romano. "Helping our clients and friends in the industry navigate through the constant changing conditions in the real estate sector and economy is what differentiates Grubb & Ellis. We are particularly proud to have several of the leading authorities in the industry on hand to lend their expert views at this important event."