VOLUME 32, NUMBER 10
©2016 Law Bulletin Publishing Co.
October 2016
The Retail Real Estate Market in the Twin Cities
By David W. Scheller, Minnesota Real Estate Journal Freelance Reporter
W
e call Minnesota the land of 10,000 lakes, though we might also have rightly dubbed it the land of 10,000 shopping malls. Shopping centers have been part of our real estate market for quite some time, after all. The Lake View Store in Duluth, built in 1915, was the first modern indoor mall in America. Southdale Center in Edina is one of the oldest fully enclosed malls in the country and the very first climate-controlled one. And of course we
have the Mall of America, that behemoth beacon of mercantilism. It generates $2 billion in economic activity annually for the state. With such a deep-seated tradition of shopping centers in our state it’s natural that the retail real estate market here should be vibrant as well. Although this market suffered the recent recession and subsequent inertia like everywhere else, it has bounced back remarkably well. For a better understanding of our retail real estate market we spoke with local expert Chris Moe, a partner at H.J. Development, Inc along with Jeff Carriveau and Gary Janisch. Founded in 1983, his
Wayzata-based company has grown into one of the largest locally owned and managed real estate firms in Minnesota. Their Twin Cities portfolio currently exceeds 1.3 million square feet and contains retail, office, medical office, and industrial properties. Chris joined their ranks 10 years ago and currently acts as the firm’s vice president of leasing and development. He oversees their portfolio’s leasing activity and sources and executes their development projects as well. “When I started out in 2006 retail was in the expansion phase of the development cycle and the Retail to page 20
It’s not about Millennial vs. Boomer. It’s not about walls vs. benches By Dan Peterson, Welsh & Colliers International
It’s time to remove focus from the age of employees and redirect it to the tools we give them.
M
ost current discussions about the trends shaping modern office space define themselves in terms of age first, purpose second. Does the space bring in younger workers?
Does the floor plan promote collaboration (a word that may have been overused to the point of losing its meaning)? The pendulum keeps swinging from one trend to another based on the perceived preferences of the largest group of recruits or furniture styles at trendy, hip offices. Peterson
We are missing the big picture In order to succeed, employees are dependent on interacting in both physical and digital spaces, regardless of age. We can learn to work in these environments so long as we acknowledge that to each-his-own and to his-own-each space. The workplace has expanded from one location to four. Because we Employees to page 22