Enews

April 2007

First Quarter Market Research

By Jim Mayland, Research Manager

Jim Mayland

The Twin Cities’ office and industrial markets kicked off the New Year with positive absorption and declining vacancies for the first quarter of 2007. This is a continuation of the past couple of years in which both markets have been seeing declining vacancies.

There are several major reasons for the declining vacancy these past few years, but two of the headlines are the strong labor market and the limited new construction.

On the graph below, you will notice that office using employment is continuing the upward trend that has occurred since mid-2003. In fact, office using employment is almost back up to pre–9/11 figures.

Another graph that reflects this positive news is the year over year job growth chart, which also shows positive job growth since mid–2003. While the job growth rate has declined the past year, it is still positive. This means that there is a demand for office space, which accounts for the positive absorptions.

The Minnesota unemployment figure has remained steady for the first quarter of 2007. Minnesota held steady at 4.2% and the national rate dropped from 4.5% to 4.4%. While the state’s unemployment didn’t decline like the US unemployment figure, it is still below the national average.

Click here to view our Q1 2007 report

Feature

Colliers Corporate Solutions

Jeff Patterson,
CRE, MCR

Jeff Patterson, CRE, MCR joined Colliers in 1997. Jeff’s 24 years of commercial real estate experience combined with his in-depth knowledge of land use make him the ideal candidate for his position at the Minneapolis office.

As Director of Corporate Solutions, Jeff specializes in consulting, analysis, strategic planning, project management, and transaction implementation for companies with multiple facilities and needs. His recent experience includes a real estate portfolio evaluation for the Santa Fe Corporation; a manufacturing site search and location analysis for Viracon; general merchandise warehouse site searches for SuperValu; and a market analysis and master development plan for the Southern Pacific Corporation. He has completed surplus property disposition assignments for Nash Finch, US West, Ecolab, Supervalu, ADC, H.B. Fuller, Petters Group Worldwide, and HealthEast.

Jeff is currently completing market analyses for the City of Saint Paul on the 11 mile Central Corridor Light Rail Transit project and the 125 acre Ford Ranger Truck Plant earmarked for closure in August 2008.

Jeff earned his BA from Yale University and his MBA from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He also holds an MA in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Colorado. Jeff is presently a member of NAR, NAIOP, MNCAR, and CoreNet Global.

Services offered through Colliers Corporate Solutions include: Location Analysis and Site Selection, Portfolio Administration, Transaction Management, Acquisition, Disposition, Leasing, Property/Facilities Management, and Construction Management.

Updates

Brokerage – Recent Transactions

Professional Plaza III, one of the
25 buildings in the CDC portfolio sale

(Multiple Minneapolis
Sub-Markets, MN) – Mark Kolsrud, CPM, Matthew Klein and Shawn Moore represented Commercial Development Co. in the sale of a 1,175,858 square foot industrial portfolio, located throughout the Minneapolis Metro Area, valued at $62 million to Stone Arch Funds, an affiliate of Minneapolis-based Hoyt Properties, Inc.

375 Rivertown Drive

(Woodbury, MN) – Mark Kolsrud, CPM, Matthew Klein and Shawn Moore represented First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. – Chicago in the sale of a 251,968 square foot industrial building, located at 375 Rivertown Drive, valued at $15 million to High Street Equity Advisors.

(Rogers, MN) – Ronald Scholder, SIOR represented Princeton Ventures, LLC, c/o Koepke & Daniels, PA in the sale of 9.13 acres, located at 13150 George Weber Drive, valued at $1.43 million to AMB Properties II LP.