VOLUME 32, NUMBER 8
©2016 Law Bulletin Publishing Co.
August 2016
Is this the longest upswing in the Minneapolis hotel market in … forever?
Limited-service hotels leading the way in hospitality boom
By Dan Rafter
I
t just might be. Just ask Ronn Thomas, senior director of hospitality for Cushman & Wakefield/NorthMarq. “It’s pretty impressive how long this cycle has lasted,” Thomas said. “And it’s predicted to continue even longer. The economy is rolling on, so there’s no reason why the hospitality industry here won’t continue to improve. There really is no end in sight to the strong performance in hospitality that we’ve been seeing.” Why is the hospitality industry such a strong one in the Twin Cities? Thomas points to the strong local economy in Minneapolis and St. Paul. When the economy is strong, travelers take more trips. At the same time, business travel rises, too, as companies can spend more on sending their employees across the country for meetings, seminars and faceto-face sales calls. The Twin Cities are poised to capitalize on this increase in travel because the region offers so much of what travelers – both business and leisure – are looking for when they hit the road, Thomas said. “Think about yourself and what you are looking for when you travel,” Thomas said. “You might be traveling to visit a college, and we have that here. You want to be close to hospitals. When it comes to business travel we have Fortune 500 companies here. The corporate environment in the Twin Cities is strong. At the same time, there are plenty of fun things to do Hotels to page 20
From Tourism to Terabytes Minnesota’s Playground goes Techy
F
or the average Minnesotan, the Brainerd Lakes Area is synonymous with tourism. The area has been the state’s premier vacation destination for generations of families in search of a place to relax, recharge and create lifelong memories. With unique shopping and dining, challenging golf courses, world-class resorts, crystal clear lakes and unlimited outdoor recreational opportunities, tourism is the backbone of the local
economy and clearly defines the area. But the area’s economic landscape is quietly starting to shift. An unlikely commercial sector – about as farremoved from tourism as one could possibly get – is enjoying significant growth in the area, bringing with it good-paying jobs and providing diversity to the local economy. The technology sector is on the rise in the Brainerd Lakes Area. Now playfully referred to as Silicon Lakes, the area is home to a growing number of tech
companies that are benefitting from a tech-friendly infrastructure and a “quality of life quotient” that’s off the charts. Tech companies are now noticing Brainerd, Baxter and surrounding communities like Pequot Lakes and Crosslake for a number of reasons, including available and affordable real estate, a robust fiber optic network and a homegrown workforce that’s educated and trained for tech careers. Tech companies also have support from the local business community that has partnered with
the Brainerd Lakes Area Economic Development Corporation (BLAEDC) to develop an initiative called “Tech Ready,” which is a resource for tech companies to learn more about the area and to help people find tech jobs. The area’s crown jewel, though, is a robust state-of-the-art fiber optic network that continues to expand throughout the region, linking local businesses to the rest of the world through a highspeed Internet connection. Tech compaBrainerd to page 12