Terrorism Worries Hit Real Estate Anew

In the wake of the Christmas 2009 attempted terrorist bombing of a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight, it's easy for Americans to remember the impact of two planes hitting the World Trade Center towers, the lives lost, and the resulting economic mayhem that ensued. GlobeSt.com recently asked whether commercial owners, lenders, and their corporate renters have reason for fresh concerns about terrorism as a real estate issue, noting that ratings agencies view terrorism insurance as an important component in ratings of commercial mortgage-backed securities.

Terrorism insurance? It's not new. To help protect the commercial real estate industry following the events of Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. government created a program called the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), which provides an additional layer of federally funded insurance money so that insurers dealing with commercial real estate have additional coverage funds in the event of another real estate-debilitating act of terrorism.