Page 22 - RE-NJ

20 OCTOBER 2025
OWNERS COUNCIL Q&A
LANCE
BERGSTEIN
CEO
LINCOLN EQUITIES GROUP
How do you feel about the
market versus this time last
year?
The market has really ebbed
and fl owed over the last 12
months. There were spurts of
positive progress coupled with
deterrents. I think this recent
rate cut will help the macro
environment but many of the
fundamentals have remained
the same. As a whole, the
country is in an interesting
political environment, which is
perhaps more impactful to the
economy than raw economic
data.
What is still the biggest
source of uncertainty?
Construction costs have
stabilized and even in some
cases come in a bit. I still
think the cost to build is the
biggest source of uncertainty
on the multifamily side. On
the industrial and offi ce side,
it’s leasing velocity. We have
seen moments where we
think velocity will increase
signifi cantly but it essentially
has a false start and doesn’t
take off.
Are you factoring in rate
cuts as you plan ahead?
From a strategy perspective,
yes, but from an underwriting
perspective, no. The deals we
do have to stand on their own
and not be super sensitive to
rates. Rate cuts could lead to
outsized outcomes, but they
never are part of my business
case for doing a deal. They
can, however, shape the profi le
of deals that we look at going
forward.
How else do you plan to
adapt, evolve or expand in
2026?
We are always looking at new
ways to extract alpha out of the
deals that we do. We recently
closed on a deal in Long
Branch where we a converting
multifamily to condominium.
We are going to continue to
think outside of the box when
looking at deals. We also have
begun to implement AI into
our daily tasks to help increase
the effi ciency rate that we can
operate at with a lean team.
Are you hiring? If so, how is
the talent pipeline in New
Jersey?
We are not currently hiring
but we did just go through
a process to hire. There is
an abundance of talented
professionals in New Jersey
looking for new opportunities.
Where have you seen
the impact of artifi cial
intelligence and other
technologies?
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We have been using AI for
helping with administrative
tasks. We recently received
building plans for a large-scale
multifamily building but no
unit descriptions or square
footage. We were able to feed
the plans into AI and receive
unit descriptions and exact
square footages of the units.
This task would have taken
an associate a long time to
complete, whereas it took AI a
much shorter period.
Give us an asset class that
intrigues you (that you
don’t typically focus on).
Retail. We typically have not
focused on retail, but we have
seen a really interesting shift
in human psyche and how they
want to shop for goods and
services. Post-COVID, I have
even found myself wanting to
shop in person much more than
online.
Are you buying or
developing outside New
Jersey?
Yes, we are focused on the
entire East Coast. We are
currently developing in the
Northeast but trying to expand
to the Southeast as well.
Where else do you see
opportunities going
forward?
Areas with few natural
disasters, an abundance of
natural resources and an
attainable cost of living.