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By JAN LOOMIS, Special to the Daily Transcript
Tuesday, September 10, 2002
Last year's terrorist attacks put pressure on business sectors that were already stressed by the weakening economy and the dot-com bust, according to Doug Wilson, president and CEO of the Douglas Wilson Cos.
Wilson's company develops strategies and does problem resolution for companies that find themselves in trouble due to loan defaults, credit problems and the like.
"Our business definitely accelerated in certain sectors as the ripple effect from the 9/11 trauma took over," he said. The company has been called in to work with real estate, golf courses, agricultural projects, large shopping malls and hotels.
"The golf course business was overbuilt and flat prior to 9/11. The shift in travel patterns and tourism pushed the industry into a downhill trend," he said. He commented that, "Budget and extended stay hotels found themselves over-extended when business travel dropped."
In addition to San Diego, the company has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orange County and Denver, and has seen bigger problems in some of those cities than in San Diego.
"The 9/11 events as well as the downturn in technology have had a devastating effect on real estate in cities like San Francisco," he said. In his opinion, San Diego seems to have been isolated from some of the downturn.
"Since our business is very much of the leading edge when problems are developing in the economy, we have seen the 9/11 effects more clearly than most," Wilson said. On the other hand, he feels this downturn is not as bad as the early 1990s and is already starting to turn around.
"As we pass the anniversary, companies need to begin to reassess their risk aversion posture and start looking towards the future," he said. "That and time will begin to bring us out of the current economic downturn."
Loomis is a free-lance writer based in Poway.
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