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More than 600 people attended the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce's 2016 Commercial Real Estate Outlook at the PPL Center. More than 600 people attended the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce’s 2016 Commercial Real Estate Outlook at the PPL Center. There was excitement in the air at the PPL Center on April 14, but it wasn’t from a Phantoms hockey game or a Journey and Santana concert. It was from the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce‘s 2016 Commercial Real Estate Outlook. More than 600 people came out for the event on the floor of the Allentown hockey arena, where several industry experts and speakers discussed the latest details about the state of commercial real estate in the Lehigh Valley. “It was a good 2015 for the Lehigh Valley, and we don’t expect it to decline in 2016,” said Don Cunningham, President and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC), which co-sponsored the event. “I want to thank the Chamber for their great work, and for the partnerships that we have,” Cunningham said, “because I really believe the regional approach we’ve taken to economic growth and serving our business community is why we’re succeeding at a much greater rate of so many other communities our size in Pennsylvania and the East Coast.” Cunningham delivered a marketplace update and described several trends in the Lehigh Valley market. Nearly 5 million square-feet of industrial space are currently being built in on speculation, meaning with no tenant lined up, which is a sign of a strong regional market. He also noted the manufacturing industry remains strong in the Lehigh Valley. The region’s GDP reached a record-high $35.4 billion in 2014, and the manufacturing sector made up $4.95 billion of that GDP, ranking 64th out of 351 major metropolitan areas in the United States. “People often misinterpret manufacturing by measuring it just based on jobs,” Cunningham said. “Obviously, there aren’t as many jobs because of automation and technology, but we have 677 manufacturers making goods here in the Lehigh Valley and putting out more economic output than is prevalent in most regions for manufacturing.” From the Lehigh Valley Economic Corportation