The metro Minneapolis retail real estate market is healthy overall coming out of 2021, with suburban submarkets on fire in many cases and urban submarkets generally subdued. A major overhang of supply was absorbed across the region last year as construction slowed dramatically, pushing retail vacancies down, rents up and sales prices of single and multi-tenant assets higher overall. It’s a testament to the market’s overall stability and resilience given the multiple waves of COVID, and events surrounding the George Floyd case that was prosecuted last year in the city. Work-from-home effect With many white-collar professionals still working from home and the center-cities tougher on mask mandates and vaccine requirements, the suburbs have shone the brightest. Vacancies were as low as 6 percent in some areas, with the overall market at 8.2 percent at year-end, according to the Minnesota Commercial Association of Real Estate/Realtors (MNCAR). Among the strongest performing submarkets have been Apple Valley, Maple Grove, Coon Rapids and Woodbury. The metro’s eight regional malls are generally faring well, unlike in some other markets across the U.S. that are more over-supplied. That said, there’s some adaptive reuse going on, including in the northwest suburb of Maple Grove where a freestanding …
