NAI Global Announces 2009 Executive Committee

Pittsburgh, PA – February 26, 2009 – NAI Global, the world’s premier network of commercial real estate firms and one of the largest real estate services providers worldwide, announced that Bill Leone, SIOR, was elected to its Leadership Board.

Mr. Leone is Managing Principal of NAI Pittsburgh Commercial, one of the Western Pennsylvania’s leading commercial real estate firms. The Leadership Board of NAI Global is comprised of representatives of NAI member firms that interact with NAI Global to provide input and develop key strategic initiatives.

“I am honored to be serving on the Leadership Board,” stated Leone. “The Board is comprised of the leading real estate professionals worldwide. Serving in this capacity will allow me to have a positive impact on the NAI Global network, while providing NAI Pittsburgh Commercial the ability to better serve our clientele here in western Pennsylvania and across the globe.”

“The NAI Members’ Leadership Board drives strategy and new initiatives that promote agreement and alignment across the network,” said Jeffrey M. Finn, NAI Global President & CEO. “The leadership and business savvy provided by this experienced group is invaluable in building a seamless global service delivery system that supports the growing and changing needs of our corporate, institutional and entrepreneurial clients around the world.”

"Keep Your Helmet On" Economist Advises Commercial Real Estate Industry in New 2009 Forecast

NAI Global held the Global Economic Outlook yesterday where Dr. Peter Linneman offered his perspective on where the economy is today, what we can expect tomorrow and what 2009 will hold. The web conference covered everything from the housing market to foreign investment, how 2009 has echoes of 1920s Germany to why the government needs to stop saving us.

The full briefing is available OnDemand. Click here to get the latest on the economy and how it will impact your business.

U.S. Retail Sales Unexpectedly Halt Six-Month Slide

Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Sales at U.S. retailers unexpectedly halted a record six-month slide in January, an advance that may not be sustained as job losses climb.

The 1 percent increase followed a 3 percent drop the prior month, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Excluding cars, the gain was 0.9 percent. Last month’s rise reflected higher gasoline prices and more spending on items including clothing and food.

“There were enough post-holiday sales to lure people into the stores; the question is whether that is sustainable -- and the answer is, obviously not,” said Tom Porcelli, a senior economist at Castlestone Management Ltd. In New York. A “collapsing’ job market means spending will deteriorate further, he said.

Separate figures today showed the number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits reached a record 4.8 million two weeks ago, reinforcing the threat to spending. Economists anticipate household purchases will tumble further in the first half of the year, underscoring the case for the $789 billion stimulus package under debate in Congress.

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Pittsburgh Acclaimed as Safe Haven for Real Estate, One of the Best Cities to Ride Out Recession

Despite the national economic slowdown, employment in the Pittsburgh Region continues to grow, totaling 1,164,100 in October 2008. Pittsburgh's growth rate of 6% is well above the national rate of -0.1%, driven by the continued success of its education and health services sectors. Universities including Carnegie Mellon, The University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University, Robert Morris University, Chatham College and others have helped attract companies like Google and Rand, along with some of the brightest professionals in the field.

Much of Pittsburgh's future is tied to its industrial past. The Pittsburgh Technology Center, a new office park on the site of a former steel mill, has been transformed into a research hub employing 1,000 people. U.S. Steel Corporation is spending $1.2 billion at its Clariton Works, which will sustain 1,300 industrial jobs, and Westinghouse Electric Company is hiring 1,000 engineers to build 33 new nuclear reactors worldwide. Additionally, General Electric and The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center are partnering to open 25 cancer-care centers in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Recently, The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center made the decision to lease 500,000 SF of office space at U.S. Steel Tower. Siemens Power Generation has leased 185,000 SF in the Union Trust Building and PNC is nearing completion of a new $200 million office tower in the CBD. Pittsburgh's downtown is more centralized than other sectors.

Recently, Kiplinger.com named Pittsburgh one of its six Safe Havens in Real Estate, with below average unemployment and foreclosure rates and high affordability. In fact; the region’s foreclosure rates totaled just 0.3% half the national average. Pittsburgh's investment real estate has steadily increased in value with properties in the Downtown, Oakland and Centre/Baum Corridor attracting investors willing to pay top dollar for prime real estate. The retail sector, hard hit nationally, is relatively insulated, down just 0.1%. In 2007 Places Rated Almanac named Pittsburgh 'America's Most LIvable City,' and Business Week recently acclaimed Pittsburgh 'One of the Best Cities for Riding Out the Recession.'

Gregg Broujos named NAI Global Elite

Pittsburgh, PA – February 23, 2009 – NAI Global named Gregory H.M. Broujos, Principal of NAI Pittsburgh Commercial to the NAI Global Elite, a group comprised of the organization’s top performers and top producers. Broujos qualified as a Top Performer based on production in 2008.

NAI Global is the world’s premier network of commercial real estate firms and one of the largest real estate service providers worldwide. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, NAI Global manages a network of 5,000 professionals and 325 offices in 55 countries. NAI professionals complete over $45 billion in transactions annually.

Patrick Sentner - Principal of NAI Pittsburgh, honored with Global Vision Award

Pittsburgh, PA (February 23, 2009) – Patrick J. Sentner, SIOR, Founding Principal of NAI Pittsburgh Commercial was recognized by NAI Global with its Global Vision Award for performance in 2008.

The Global Vision Award recognizes the individual who makes the most of existing business strategies or has proven to be an innovator in expanding into new horizons to the benefit of the NAI Global network.

Sentner also qualified as a Top Performer at the Silver Elite level based on production in 2008, and was recognized as a Top Producer at the Elite level.

The awards were presented in a ceremony on February 12th at the NAI Global 2009 Convention in Las Vegas. NAI Global is the world’s premier network of commercial real estate firms and one of the largest real estate service providers worldwide. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, NAI Global manages a network of 5,000 professionals and 325 offices in 55 countries. NAI professionals complete over $45 billion in transactions annually.

NAI Pittsburgh teams up with CellSigns to better serve clients

NAI Pittsburgh Commercial (NAIPC) is pleased to announce that it is the first brokerage in Southwestern Pennsylvania to partner with CellSigns. The partnership opens a new line of interactive mobile marketing properties by way of text messaging.

If a property owner chooses to utilize CellSigns as an additional marketing mechanism, NAIPC and CellSigns create a property specific "Keyword" in the database. When an interested party sends a text message containing the keyword, they receive custom information to the property, contact information, and even picture(s) of the property or floor plans.

"Good companies ensure that they deliver service. Great companies ensure that they are always improving the services offered. Especially in this challenging market, we felt that the interactive mobile marketing we gain through this partnership not only creates a new marketing mechanism, but perhaps more importantly, illustrates to our clients that we relentlessly pursue new ways to do a better job for them." Gregg Broujos, Principal with NAI Pittsburgh Commercial.

Want to see how it works? Text the keyword "HERITAGE" to 79274

About: CellSigns (www.cellsigns.com), a wholly owned subsidiary of QWASI Inc., is a leading mobile marketing company providing interactive mobile solutions for business via text messaging, SMS, MMS and WAP. The company's services are supported by every major wireless carrier and work on more than 99 percent of all cell phones. The company offers real estate marketing tools, SMS chat, mobile classifieds, mobile real estate search tool Mobile Agent (http://www.mymobileagent.com/), click-to-chat, click-to-text, Mobile IM (MIM) applications, group communication, enterprise alerting and the only interactive property marketing service for real estate. CellSigns powers over 1.1 million real estate listings, 1.5 million mobile ads and alerts. CellSigns is the winner of the Most Innovative Technology in Real Estate from Inman News. For more information, contact David Geipel at 877-747-9274 or dgeipel @ cellsigns.com.