Commercial Property & Real Estate News

Distinctive buildings, from decaying warehouses to abandoned churches, have become trendy targets for new development throughout the country. Many of them require extensive redevelopment, but they often have unique characteristics that promise opportunities for specialty leasing. In addition, in some areas entire neighborhoods full of distressed and underused properties are ripe for modernization and for what today is termed adaptive reuse.

It's a real estate niche that requires timing, creativity and commitment. The upside is that, at least in some locales, municipal governments and planning and zoning officials are thoroughly supportive of private efforts and, in some cases, are willing to partner with private owners and developers in

W.A. Mortenson won a previous round of bidding with a proposal for a hotel at 800 Washington Avenue S. in Minneapolis MN. However, those plans were abandoned when the company encountered financing difficulties. Now Minneapolis has an opportunity to consider a different type of development on a half-acre-plus rectangular lot sandwiched between the Riverfront Parking Ramp and Washington Ave. In April, the city called for new RFPs on the city-owned tract, and four developers responded.

The site is near the Guthrie Theater, and the city stipulated that any new construction be at least five stories to act as a visual buffer from the existing parking garage. During the last round of proposals, Mortenson had submitted an ambitious plan for a 188-room

The early-May announcement that Pulte Homes plans to build a major new senior home development in Corcoran was greeted with enthusiasm, but it's not the only big news on the development scene in the Twin Cities. Pulte and other developers seem to be betting that the Olmstead region will continue to grow during the next decade.

However, there may be some mixed signals. What are the facts?

Lifestyle Appeal

Pulte's new 393-home active adult community is the second-largest in Corcoran history and the first in Minnesota to be built under the Del Webb brand, according to city spokesmen and the Atlanta-based homebuilder. It will be built in phases, with the first homes ranging in price between the mid-$200s and the low-$500s. The first group of

Boutique hotel operators and gourmet restaurant chefs across the nation have discovered the appeal of locally grown seasonal produce and artisanal menu offerings.

If you have not yet encountered a bright blossom on your plate, or sipped a cocktail that features flavorful herb infusions, you may not be frequenting the trendy lounges and upscale eateries in your neighborhood.

Today, it's almost as likely you'll find a nasturtium in your salad as in a curbside planter box. Edible flowers are top sellers for some alternative farmers, and noted chefs across the country have taken the lead in requesting and even cultivating the unusual produce that finds its way onto their menus. Not only have bean flowers and squash blossoms migrated beyond ethnic

Target Corp. recently announced plans to remodel 28 Twin Cities stores this year as part of a $1 billion effort to revamp the look of 325 of its locations nationwide. Locally, the renovations, which target about half of the Twin City Target stores, will cost about $250 million, and this is the largest single market for 2018 updates, although approximately 325 stores nationwide are targeted for renovation this year. There are no plans for store closings during the planned remodels.

The flagship Target at Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis already sports the new decor, offering shoppers a sort of preview of what is to come chainwide.

Target Hits Bullseye with New Look

In addition to downplaying the chain's signature red color scheme in favor of

No one today would dispute the need for building-wide reliable communication. Business and commerce run on digital connections, and developers who underestimate the need for such services simply cannot compete in an increasingly technology-dependent world.

Speed and mobility are equally important to forward-looking companies. Even the terms are different. Networks that formerly supported landline telephones and fax lines, bulky desktop computers and other business machinery are no longer necessary in a voice and video-driven, cloud-based, wireless world. But the advances and the new efficiency have also brought new challenges; corporate tenants in both single structures and high-rise buildings have new and important demands. Designers and

Time spent in traffic is just as unpleasant for commuters in Minneapolis and St. Paul as lengthy train or bus rides are for residents of Delhi. Residents of sprawling Dallas and Los Angeles complain about the distances—and the time—it takes to get from one suburb to another, or from the airport to the urban core. Globally, from Sydney, Australia to Paris, from Hong Kong to Delhi, business travelers yearn for faster, more efficients ways to get to work.

Now, the company that pioneered alternative transportation options, Uber, cites the topic of "commute pain" as a key component of the latest innovative transportation solution on its drawing boards.

Urban Air Mobility

Sprawling Big D and LA are two launch cities that have been selected for

Among the exciting emerging trends in the way Americans are choosing to live in today's market, the growing popularity in urban agriculture makes a lot of headlines. Not only is free food a feature of some urban forests, but residential vegetable plots, farmstands and farmers markets, community gardens and rooftop greenhouses have taken root. All of which matches recent growing trends in more eco-friendly cityscapes. Fresh food in the city is no longer just for self-proclaimed foodies and upscale restaurant chefs. The new mindset takes many forms, and is differently defined in different locales, but there is no denying that a kind of food revolution is in process. City planners, restaurant chefs, food banks, health-care providers and for-profit

After an especially long winter, there seems to be good reason to be optimistic about the future of commercial real estate, especially office space, in downtown Minneapolis, according to April reports. The urban core, apparently, is where workers want to be.

The buzz for a couple of seasons now has been that the current cycle is in its end stages. Since it is common wisdom that real estate is cyclical, that led to some foreboding and "what if" discussions. However, there is now, based on data from the National Real Estate Institute, ample reason to believe that the good times are not slated to end just yet, particularly in the office sector. The expectation is upbeat; forecasts remain bullish for rents and occupancies.

Investor Outlook for

The Green Line was a huge success story for the Twin Cities. In 2014, when the light rail line connected Minneapolis and St. Paul, there was cause for celebration. And the cities have been enamored by the 11-mile stretch of track—dubbed the Green Line—that brought the two cities together for the first time in more than 60 years. On the first day, more than 45,000 people rode from one downtown to the other, with stops at 23 stations in between.

It was a day to remember, but getting to that point was not without controversy. It took more than eight years of active planning and actual construction, not to mention decades of political maneuvering. St. Paul was hesitant and hard to bring "on board" during the planning, partly because the bulk of the