The point right here is that Fish not only knows Boston, he’s also seeing company situations on the ground in components of the nation far from our parochial bubble. In addition, as chair of the national True Estate Roundtable, he’s finding initial-hand knowledge advertising the industry’s policy priorities in Washington.

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I spoke with Fish on Wednesday, and although we covered a variety of subjects, right here are his views on 3 challenges he considers pressing.

The looming industrial genuine estate debt crisis could derail the economy

A lot more than $900 billion in loans backing industrial genuine estate and multifamily housing is set to come due this year and subsequent. But higher interest prices — and low occupancy in downtown workplace buildings and retail places — have left lots of owners underwater, owing much more to lenders than the worth of their house.

This has raised severe issues about how the debt can be refinanced with no forcing banks to take major writedowns and improve their capital cushions, which would prompt them to curb lending, throttling back the economy in the procedure.

“We’re in a extremely precarious circumstance,” Fish stated.

The True Estate Roundtable has asked federal banking regulators to give lenders and borrowers much more time — as they did following the 2008-2009 monetary crisis and the onset of COVID-19 — to restructure the debt although house valuations stabilize and owners raise much more equity to back their loans.

If regulators agree, “there’s no doubt in my thoughts. . . the debt can be preserved and [bank lending] will not be interrupted,” Fish stated.

At the similar time, Fish stated, it is critical to get much more workers back in the workplace, and the federal government ought to lead by instance. About half of the government’s two million civilian workers started operating remotely in March 2020 lots of have but to return. Final month, the Biden administration told federal agencies it desires to “substantially increase” in-individual operate, but Fish believes it desires to be much more aggressive.

“The federal government is the entity that asked folks to go house. And the federal government has not reversed that course and asked folks to come back,” Fish stated.

Fish stated operating collectively in the similar location “is a extremely crucial factor to the culture of American company,” and much more workplace workers in America’s downtowns would give a increase to surrounding firms.

The building business is getting constrained by a labor shortage

“Unemployment in building now in America is zero,” Fish stated.

That has sent wages — and creating expenses — sharply larger.

He cited 3 components for the dearth of workers: an aging workforce, the loss of workers through the pandemic, and immigration limits. And he lamented the failure of the Home to go along with a bipartisan Senate bill in 2013 that would have supplied a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants, presented short-term operate visas for reduce-skilled workers, and substantially strengthened border safety.

Fish stated an immigration overhaul along the similar lines as the one particular that failed in 2013 is vital to preserve the economy increasing.

“If we do not resolve the immigration crisis we are going to continue to knowledge higher wages, higher building expenses, and a shortage of housing,” he stated.

Massachusetts is sending out an anti-company vibe

Fish was an active behind-the-scenes opponent of the Fair Share Amendment, the union-backed ballot proposal for a four percentage-point surtax on incomes above $1 million.

Voters’ approval of the so-named millionaires tax, he stated, sent a loud message to the rest of the planet that Massachusetts wasn’t especially interested in supporting firms.

Fish stated that it is time for a “more crucial conversation” about the increasing anti-company sentiment in the state. He didn’t get in touch with out Governor Maura Healey or any Democrats in the Legislature, as an alternative saying Massachusetts has a lot of young folks, and “the younger folks are, the tendency is to appear at company with a jaundiced eye.”

But Fish produced clear that, in his view, factors had changed considering that Charlie Baker left the corner workplace.

“The final administration across the board truly place emphasis on the significance of business” in driving financial and social prosperity, he stated.

“What’s crucial is that we appreciate much more of what we have to offer” to attract and retain firms “and to develop a consensus with each the political establishment and the company neighborhood in a way that our worth proposition does not get diluted or impaired.”

Compared with placing up a skyscraper in the middle of Downtown Crossing, creating a consensus on how to make Massachusetts much more competitive appears like the tougher job.

Larry Edelman can be reached at larry.edelman@globe.com. Comply with him on Twitter @GlobeNewsEd.