NJ-NAIOP: meeting the demands of the 90's.

As the face of the commercial real estate industry continues to change throughout the 90's, the New Jersey Chapter of NAIOP stands ready to address and answer the needs of its members through a combination of proactive activities that tackle issues of concern to New Jersey's future and through innovative, informative programming.

Our membership at both the national and state level has accomplished much in the national and state legislative arenas during the past year. Positive real estate provisions contained in the Clinton Economic Package are a direct result of seven years of efforts by our members at the national level. Likewise, in New Jersey, where we are considered by many to be one of the strongest voices for commercial real estate in the halls of any State House in the nation, the passage of the Industrial Site Recovery Act (ISRA) last month capped off seven years of work to reform its predecessor, ECRA.

Real estate provisions in the Clinton Econamic Package will correct many of the shortcomings of the 1986 Tax Reform Act. Among these are passive loss reform, elimination of immediate tax penalties on loan workouts and liberalization of regulations allowing pension funds to invest in real estate. These provisions will be instrumental in retaining our nation's industrial and cammercial real estate value. Our members also argued vehemently -- and successfully -- to remove provisions in the bill that would hive eliminated the deductibility of expenses incurred for "ordinary and necessary" business communications with local permitting agencies and zoning boards.

In New Jersey, our members input on ISRA, the first step in ECRA reform, resulted in a bill that is fair and balanced -- ensuring a clean environment for future generations while relieving manufacturers and industrial real estate owners from onerous regulatory burdens. The resultant bill frees-up clean-up capital, expedites a beleaguered bureaucratic morass and protects perty owner rights in relationships with tenants. It is an important first step towards putting redevelopment of our state's cities back on track.

Last year the chapter played similarly active roles in supporting the Permit Extension Act and was an outspoken advocate for the commercial real estate industry's concerns regarding specific provisions within the New Jersey Highway Access Code.

Our efforts have not gone unnoticed by our peers. Our effectiveness, high level of member participation, grass-roots efforts and diverse and highly focused public affairs and legislative activities earned us national NAIOP's 1992 Chapter Merit Award for Outstanding Public Affairs Programming.

While NJ-NAIOP is proud of its accomplishments in Washington and Trenton, we are equally proud of and committed to our efforts at the local level where our members give generously of their time and talent to the communities in which they operate. To highlight these achievements, the chapter hosts the Annual Awards of Excellence Gala. More than 800 people gather for this event which not only honors our members' business successes but most importantly the impact they have had helping their communities and other organizations.

Other philanthropic work includes our annual golf outing fund-raiser to benefit the Frank D. Visceglia Memorial Scholarship Fund. Held in conjunction with the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of New Jersey, the event's proceeds enable us to provide scholarships to deserving young adults. (This year's event will be held Monday, Aug. 30 at the Forsgate Country Club in

Jamesburg. New Jersey).

The remainder of 1993 and early 1994 will be an active time for our chapter. Our members will continue to devote time and effort on behalf of the chapter as ISRA is fine-tuned over the coming months. To help our members more fully understand ISRA, the chapter will host a technical seminar in the fall that expands on topics covered at meeting on the same issue held in July and attended by more than 100 people. Other events include our Annual Economic Forecast Meeting in November, our Annual Real Estate Outlook Dinner and elections in early February and, in the Spring our Second Annual Associate Member Appreciation Night.

Through these and other activities. NJ-NAIOP looks forward to continuing to serve as The Voice For Commercial Real Estate -- in New Jersey and in Washington. Our results in 1993 are evidence of strengths established and cultivated for many years by a chapter that has built a solid local organization of involved, committed volunteers supported by a lean but dedicated professional staff, AS we move into 1994, we will continue this momentum and build upon our successes to create a positive environment that will ensure our industry's success well into the next century.