Minneapolis, Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS—(July 10, 2009)—The Minneapolis/St. Paul office of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker (Colliers), a world-wide leader of commercial real estate services, today announced that despite challenging market conditions, its commercial real estate brokers are hard at work, completing many multi-million dollar transactions for the months of June and July.

Industrial

In the industrial market, there has been substantial negative absorption since the beginning of the year and vacancy continues to climb. Many companies are in the market looking for the opportunities to renew early in existing spaces, or to take advantage of market rates to negotiate new leases.

In June, Mark Sims, Duane Poppe, CCIM, Daniel Terry, and Jeffrey Pearson represented Duke Realty Limited Partnership in the lease of 120,048 SF of space located at 7601 Setzler Parkway, valued at $5.67 million to Graybar Electric Company.

David Stokes, SIOR and Bradley Brown represented Wellington Management in the acquisition of the Phillips Eco-Enterprise Center (PEEC), a 57,609 SF industrial building located at 2801 21st Avenue in Minneapolis, valued at $5.1 million.

In July, Ron Scholder, SIOR completed a lease of 244,666 SF at River Road Industrial Center to British Petroleum Wind Energy, valued at $2.496 million.

Scholder also represented Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board in the sale of 7 acres and a 27,000 SF building, located at NW Hwy 55 & Bloomington Road in St. Paul, valued at $4.25 million to Boy Scouts of America. The site used to be government-owned, and the building once housed a training facility for the U.S. Army’s Cavalry units.

Sims, Poppe, Terry, and Pearson represented AMB in the lease of 61,102 SF to Blue Dot Design & Manufacturing, Inc at the AMB Rogers Distribution Center, located at 13150 George Weber Drive in Rogers, valued at $1.62 million.

Scholder represented RL Garon & RN Perl in the sale of 9440 Science Center Drive in New Hope, a 21,642 SF industrial building, to Hearing and Service Dogs of Minnesota. The facility will serve as a new training center for the service dogs.

Office

The downward trend continued for the office market, as absorption maintained its first quarter pace, putting more space on the market. The Macy’s building, which was formerly a single tenant building and not tracked in the dataset, also added vacancy to the downtown Minneapolis market. Vacancy continued to climb in almost all submarkets. Despite these facts, asking rental rates continue to hold steady.

In June, Kai Thomsen and William Buckley represented Dayhu Investments in the lease of 12,316 square feet of office space, located at 6401 Sycamore Court in Maple Grove, valued at $1.8 million to St. Cloud State University.

Retail

The economic challenges have some retailers and restaurants closing up shops, while inspiring others to look for new concepts and opening up stores. Malls and strip centers alike have been faced with the challenges of rising vacancies.

In July, Molly Townsend and Jennifer Pelant represented MAC 5 Properties, LLC in the sale of the 8,809 SF former Baker’s Square restaurant, located at 14201 Burngarten Drive in Burnsville, valued at $1.15 million to Doolittle’s.

Andrea Christenson, SCLS, and Kelcey McKean represented Garland Properties LLC in the lease of 10,850 square feet of retail space, formerly The Times bar and restaurant located at 201 Hennepin in Minneapolis, valued at $1.33 million to East by Northeast. The property is set to become a new restaurant, Ginger Hopps.

Investment

Investment sales have been few and far between. All product types have seen both a decrease in sales and an increase in cap rates. The tight credit market and investor fear of not having reached bottom will push a full recovery out 12-24 months at the earliest.

In June, Matthew Klein, CCIM, Mark Kolsrud, SIOR, and Shawn Moore represented a local owner in the sale of a three-building portfolio comprised of 25,509 square feet of retail space, located at CR42 and Flagstaff Avenue in Apple Valley, valued at $3.19 million to Baceline Investments LLC.

About Colliers Turley Martin Tucker

Colliers Turley Martin Tucker recently completed the consolidation of its ownership structure with Cassidy & Pinkard Colliers, Colliers Pinkard, and Colliers ABR, forming a holding company that is one of the nation’s largest commercial real estate service firms.  The consolidated entity operates in all 50 states, completes more than $13 billion in worldwide transactions annually, and manages more than $30 billion in real estate.  The holding company’s portfolio totals 300 million square feet under property management, 210 million square feet of space for lease, and $5 billion in capital markets transactions annually.  The Corporate Solutions division sustains more than 20,000 locations for Fortune 1,000 companies and delivers a new location “Every 80 Minutes.”  Colliers is the top-ranked real estate firm on the Global Outsourcing 100 companies list, IAOP Top 100.  For more information about Colliers International, a worldwide affiliation of independently owned and operated companies, visit www.colliers.com.

Contact Information

Jennifer Umberger
jumberger@ctmt.com

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