MOBILE, Ala. — Real estate professionals from southwest Alabama and other areas gathered March 10 to discuss current market conditions and exchange ideas about how best to jump-start sales and leasing opportunities. The Gulf Coast Commercial Real Estate Summit III and Market Review, presented by the University of South Alabama Mitchell College of Business Center for Real Estate Studies, focused this year on how to maximize opportunities in what has proved to be a tough time for those buying and selling commercial property.

“Mobile (area) has been a dynamic market since (Hurricane) Katrina,” said Stephen Ankenbrandt of Rock Apartment Advisors. The executive from the Birmingham-based apartment brokerage firm added, “Mobile has had a good run. You’re not a sleepy Southern city that people don’t pay attention to.”

Ankenbrandt cited the expansion of Austal USA and the new ThyssenKrupp plant as examples why the area was forecast by Moody’s Corp. to end the first quarter with the 13th fastest job market in the nation. He noted this as a positive sign for those who invest in the rental market.

“That prediction is very bright for Mobile,” he said. “It’s bright for apartment owners and bright for the job market.”

Although rental oversupply has been an issue, according to Ankenbrandt, such accommodations will be in great demand as the local economy begins to grow again.

Ankenbrandt said, “More people are going to rent longer. People are going to find it tougher to buy a home because of mortgage policy. You cannot have a 100 percent market, however. You always have a functional vacancy.”

He sees Baldwin County as a substantial growth market.

“They built in droves,” Ankenbrandt said. “Then the job market fell.”

Of the notable apartment complexes built from 2008-2009, only one (Stone Ridge at Somerby, 312 units) was constructed in Mobile County.

The remainder, which were developed in Baldwin County, are Arlington at Eastern Shore (300 units), Spanish Fort Town Center (216 units), The Vinings at Spanish Fort (240 units) and 1,008 units in four new Pleasure Island properties.

Although coastal apartment transactions are down 89 percent from the peak, Ankenbrandt said, “Our belief is this is a great market. There’s going to be great buying opportunities (for multifamily dwelling) investors.”

Donald Kelly of the Mitchell Co. also looks forward to an economic rebound. The veteran developer of retail space said consumer overspending in years past prompted his industry to overbuild and overlease.

“2009 was a transition year,” Kelly said. “Some store sales showed an increase.”

He pointed out this might be a good time to rework existing retail space, rather than build. He pointed out the trend in some places is to transition retail centers into office space, call centers, schools, libraries and government offices.

Kelly doesn’t necessarily expect an immediate recovery though.

“We’ll be looking at more retail bankruptcies, and that will mean more vacancies in power centers,” he said.

Jeremy Miller of White-Spunner and Associates said there has been a migration of industrial users to the area since Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005. He said, “When I think about that kind of investment in our market, I know we’re going to fare well.”

He said Baldwin County has a number of clean industrial tenants spread across the county, including in the Bay Minette Industrial Park; Loxley, north of Interstate 10, along Highway 59 and County Road 49; the Robertsdale Industrial Park; Foley Industrial Park; and Fairhope industrial area along Greeno Road, south of town.

The area’s industrial vacancy rate has risen, however. From a 7 percent vacancy rate in 2008 to 17 percent last year, 2010 has dawned with a 23 percent vacancy rate, with around 3.5 million square feet of available space in southwest Alabama.

It was Troy Wayman of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce who addressed the elephant in the room, and urged everyone to keep their chins up.

The decision by Northrop Grumman and EADS North America to withdraw from the competition to build replacements for the Eisenhower-era Air Force refueling tankers sent shock waves across the Southeast.

The partnership between the American and European companies was expected to bring thousands of primary and secondary jobs to the Gulf Coast, and was to be a catalyst for reversing the overall trend of unemployment.

“We need to look at it as this community did its job,” Wayman said. “We worked together, and folks around the world have taken notice that this community came together. Other doors will open up.”