Collectively, Paul Iskalo, Bill Paladino, Carl Montante Jr. and Jim McGuire own or control nearly 30 million square feet of local office, retail and commercial space.

By all accounts, that makes them well-qualified to offer an opinion about the regional commercial market. And they did during a recent meeting of the Greater Buffalo Building & Owners Managers Association.

They touched on a number of issues facing Western New York, from navigating the current recession to the potential impact on downtown Buffalo of a nearly empty, 38-story HSBC Tower.

Iskalo, founder of Iskalo Development, said his company is "looking inward" during current market conditions.

That means focusing on retaining clients. In some cases, Iskalo said, he is doing second and third deals with his existing client base.

Montante, vice president of his family's Uniland Development Co., said because his focus has been almost exclusively on the Buffalo and Rochester markets, he feels fortunate compared to other developers.

Those two cities are traditionally conservative markets with a limited number of speculative buildings constructed. That proved to be a saving grace in recent years.

"Other developers are seeing a 30 percent drop in the real estate values; we are not," Montante said. "In fact, we are saying, ‘Thank God we are here (in Buffalo and Rochester).' "

Paladino is CEO of Ellicott Development Co. He said some projects have been "scaled back."

"We slowed down some projects and stopped others," he said.

And McGuire, CEO of McGuire Development Co., said he has seen developers in other cities suffer because they built too much on spec - especially when banks were lining up to loan money on projects.

And what would a nearly empty HSBC Tower mean to Buffalo?

Seneca One Realty LLC is facing the possibility of losing two main tenants, HSBC Bank USA and Phillips Lytle, in the next few years.

That would leave the 800,000-square-foot building with just a 13 percent occupancy rate.

All four developers agreed that if it happens, the building likely will fall into default.

And whoever ends up with the tower will offer deeply discounted office rental rates, which could deflate the value and price that other property owners could get for their downtown buildings.

"It will have a devastating impact on downtown," McGuire said. "It could take 10 years to recover."

Paladino said it could be a "good news/bad news" situation.

The good news is HSBC Bank's long-term commitment to Buffalo and, possibly, the bank increasing its downtown work force from 2,200 workers to more than 5,000 people.

"Anytime you can see 5,000 jobs in downtown, it's a plus," Paladino said.

"It's nice to see HSBC thinking of Buffalo in terms of a growth pattern," he added.

The downside, however, would be the lower market rates that office buildings would have to offer.

"That is definitely a worry to us," Paladino said.

Montante, however, said some older office buildings may find new uses, such as being converted to residential units.

Downtown has seen a resurgence in people moving into the central business district.

Iskalo agreed there will be "short-term pain" with a virtually empty HSBC Tower/

It will force property owners to work harder to keep their existing tenant base, said Iskalo.