Miami, Florida – The Realtors Commercial Alliance of Greater Miami and the Beaches (RCA Miami) hosted the first annual Commercial Super Expo & Real Estate Conference. After 12 years of success with the Commercial Expo, RCA Miami successfully took the event to a higher level, making it the real estate event of the year and attracting more than 250 commercial real estate professionals.

Leading innovators in the South Florida commercial real estate market Hank Klein, Cushman and Wakefield; Edward Easton, The Easton Group; Kenneth Rosen, CCIM, Kendar Real Estate; and William Biondi, Miami Asset Management Company; headlined the premier Lunch with the Legends panel.  Thomas Byrne, 2008 RCA President, of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors, served as moderator.  The panelists offered insights to commercial practitioners starting out in the business and emphasized the importance on volunteer leadership and civic responsibility.

“It was such an honor to have these commercial real estate legends at our event and for them to share their wisdom and success stories,” said Byrne.  “We brought to South Florida top national and regional speakers focusing on topics as diverse as advance letter of intent to running your own commercial brokerage firm,” said Jose Juncadella, 2009 RCA Miami President.

The premier conference program featured three keynote speakers, including Jerry D. Anderson, CCIM, Executive Managing Director, Sperry Van Ness Florida, who presented Natural Behaviors of Successful Brokers.  Partner association CCIM South Florida sponsored Anderson’s session.  Robert J. Nahigian, FRICS, SIOR, CRE, Managing Principle, Auburndale Realty Company, another keynote speaker, presented Wealth Building.  His session was sponsored by partner organization SIOR.  Amateur Hour is Over:  Who is Managing Your Property? Was presented by Jay Windsor, PM Nexus Owner/Principle.

Green on the Ground – How the Green Building Meets the Green Lease, a panel discussion on the timely topic of Green Building, featured Alan Ojeda, President and CEO of Rilea Group and Michael R. Goldstein, Esq. and Janis K. Cheezem, Esq., both environmental shareholders at Akerman Senterfitt.

Alan Kramer, Esq., Bryan Cave LLP, presented Issues in Advanced Leasing, providing information on avoiding common pitfalls when procuring a lease.  Other sessions included:

• Managing Commercial Brokers:  The 6 Biggest Mistakes Commercial Managers Make by Bob McComb, Founder of Top Dog
• Property Tax Update by John Sebree, VP of Public Policy at FAR
• Opa Locka Update: Heading West by Ernie Cambo, President of CPG Investment Group, and Eric Greenwald, Director of Airport Projects, Adler Group, Inc.
• Hotel & Hospitality:  A Lenders Perspective by Robin Webb, CCIM, CRB, State President of Operations Coldwell Banker NRT
• Miami’s Medical Corridor: A Healthy Proposal by Dr. Bert Chernow, Vice Provost for Technology Advancement at University of  Miami