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ALAN ABRAMS
Special to the Jewish News
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3/23
2001
86
etroit area builders and
developers are speaking
with one voice when it
comes to the current eco-
nomic slowdown.
Essentially, their bottom line is that
while business may be down, it is all
relative when compared to the peak
performance of the Clinton years.
"There definitely is a slowdown in
the quantity of sales, but it should be
prefaced with that while business has
slowed, the levels of the last three or
four years were unprecedented. So
now our business has slowed to levels
which, during the last economic
downswing, would have been consid-
ered positive," said Steven Perlman,
president of Farmington Hills-based
Huntley Homes, Inc.
Perlman, recently inducted as treas-
urer of the Building Industry
people made deposits. "It was the right
Association of Southeastern Michigan
price and the right location," he said.
(BIA), stressed that the current eco-
nomic situation is different
from "the last real reces-
Steven Perl man and
Being Prepared
sion" because of lower
Alan Shapi ro of
But Perlman, like others
interest rates and the
Huntley Ho mes check
in the industry, has
absence of high unemploy-
a building s ite.
planned for the slow-
ment.
down, unlike in earlier
There is still a very
recessionary
periods. "We've strate-
favorable unemployment rate in
gized
this.
We
knew there would even-
Michigan, well below the recessionary
tually no longer be a period of
standards of 6.5 percent. Even under
unprecedented growth. We positioned
the current slowdown, economists pre-
ourselves for where we'd be in 2001
dict the rate may only climb to 5 per-
and 2002, and we were prepared," he
cent, which is considered more than
said.
acceptable.
Perlman did this by concentrating
"Typically, there's a six-month lag
upon
what he calls "A" properties and
before we see the effects. We've already
by being aggressive. "We bought rea-
landed very bumpy, but the forecast is
sonably and produced a good product.
for a strong 2002. We're confident,"
We did our homework and our due
said Perlman.
diligence. Properties are in demand in
He and other builders believe this is
good times and bad times, " he said,
a good time to buy. Earlier this year,
citing his firm's Pembrooke Place, a
Perlman opened Cherry Hill Village in
development of ranch and villa condos
Canton Township. More than 100
at Walnut Lake and Orchard Lake
roads in West Bloomfield with 400
names already on the waiting list.
One factor Perlman credits for the
success of that project is that Oakland
County Chief Executive L. Brooks
Patterson had the foresight to bring in
and nurture industries that were not as
economically sensitive to cyclical
downturns.
And like others in the building
industry, he has high hopes for
President Bush's tax cut incentive.
"That should result in more disposable
income and more money for mortgage
payments," he said.
And there is even a positive side for
builders as the labor market frees up,
said Perlman.
Peter Burton of Burton Katzman
Development in Bingham Farms sees
many of the same trends in the com-
mercial building field.
A past president of the BIA, Burton
said economic adjustments "have