Power Breakfast: Commercial real estate woes, weather flight cuts, layoffs, MARTA, UPS, soda tax

The commercial real estate mess is just getting ramped up, as high unemployment continues to clobber demand for space.

AJC staffer Gertha Coffee reports that the industry in metro Atlanta is likely to remain troubled for at least three more years, economists and real estate experts said Thursday during Databank Atlanta’s 2010 Real Estate Symposium.

“The recession is over, but it doesn’t feel that way,” said Georgia economist Roger Tutterow, professor of economics at Mercer University.

Real estate is lagging the economic recovery as record vacancy rates and a drop in rental rates continue, Coffee reports. Significant job recovery is needed to reignite demand, Tutterow said.

“We need to understand that it will be way into 2013 and possibly 2014 before employment gets back to where it was on the national level before 2008 and 2009,” he said.

Also in the AJC:

• Snow causing Delta, AirTran to cut flights
• Synovus adopts big bank model
• Fewer holiday hires cause January layoffs to dip
• NY soda tax proposal pours big controversy
• MARTA yellow line to be renamed gold
• UPS unveils new NASCAR ads

In other media:

• Senate Dems ax bipartisan jobs bill
• Obama advisers predict high unemployment for years
• Toyota to expand disclosure amid pressure on CEO
• America lines up for piece of Warren Buffett
• Democrats skeptical health care summit is answer