By Anders Pesavento, Cushman & Wakefield
If you have ever been to a pro sports game or a concert and felt that collective buzz, you know exactly what I mean — it is electric. The kind of energy that makes you look around and think, right, this is why we do this. I felt it first-hand when the Cross Country Skiing World Cup came to Minneapolis in 2024, and more than 30,000 people packed into one place to cheer on the athletes. That day was a reminder you cannot replicate with a livestream or a group chat: humans feed off other humans.
The office market is tapping into that same instinct, just in a quieter way. That is why the conversation has moved from whether office matters to which offices matter. It is not a blanket comeback. It is a sorting.
We are not rewinding to 2019. Companies are using spaces differently and choosing buildings that help them recruit and retain talent. Hybrid schedules are real, but so is the need for culture, onboarding and collaboration that works best face-to-face.
That shift makes “vacancy” a blunt instrument. Real vacancy is the space that is truly available in buildings that can transact, meaning ownership groups that can fund tenant improvements, offer concessions responsibly and keep investing. It also explains why some landlords are leaning in and winning, while others are waiting for a market that is not coming back soon.
The Twin Cities data is consistent, and well-positioned assets with strong ownership are outperforming. The France Avenue submarket is the cleanest example. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Class A direct vacancy along the corridor was 9.8 percent, essentially unchanged from 9.7 percent at year-end 2019. Compare that with 32 percent for the broader Southwest submarket and 26.1 percent for metro-wide Class A direct vacancy.
France Avenue works because it makes the workday easier. Amenities and access reduce friction for employees and clients, and the best buildings have ownership that can invest ahead of demand.
The Craftsman illustrates this point. This new project pushed forward, reached roughly 60 percent preleasing and is achieving net rents north of $40 per square foot.
The West End submarket is another proof point. Class A direct vacancy there compressed to 9.5 percent in fourth-quarter 2025, down from 12.5 percent at year-end 2019, even as the broader West submarket and the metro remain above pre-COVID levels.
Where downtown ranks
Downtown Minneapolis follows the same logic, just with more nuance. The headline should not be “downtown is empty.” The headline is “downtown is sorting.” Overall Minneapolis central business district (CBD) vacancy ended 2025 at 32.6 percent, but the districts with the most energy are improving. From 2024 to 2025, Gateway and the North Loop posted the largest year-over-year drops at 22.6 percent and 27.4 percent, respectively.
Capital structure is the quiet driver. In fourth-quarter 2025, overall Minneapolis CBD Class A direct vacancy was 33.6 percent, while a 10-building subset of higher quality, transactable assets were closer to 27 percent. A basis reset can unlock new investment and more flexible deal structures and sometimes create a path to conversion when that is the right outcome.
At the same time, St. Paul has had tougher chapters, but constructive momentum is building. In a downtown inventory of roughly 5.8 million square feet, select St. Paul CBD direct vacancy was 18.9 percent versus 32.3 percent for the broader CBD, and best-in-class vacancy was 15.1 percent.
Across the metro, 2025 looked more like stabilization than free fall. Net absorption finished positive at 115,436 square feet, a significant improvement from negative 1.55 million square feet in 2024. Class A asking rents rose to $34.14 per square foot in the fourth quarter of 2025. Investment activity is still a process of price discovery, but it is moving. As we head deeper into 2026, the winning formula is increasingly clear: A smaller subset of buildings will capture an outsized share of tenant demand. Those buildings tend to have three things in common: They are well located, well amenitized and well capitalized.
Office is back, but it is also more honest now. It is less about square footage and more about experience — less about forcing attendance and more about earning it.
The good news is that our market is full of owners who are leaning in, investing and innovating, and it is full of companies that still believe in the power of bringing people together. That combination is how a market rebuilds momentum the right way — not with hype, not with denial, but with smart capital, thoughtful planning and buildings that make people want to show up. When that happens, office does not just come back; it evolves into something stronger.
Anders Pesavento is a managing principal with Cushman & Wakefield. This article originally appeared in the March 2026 issue of Heartland Real Estate Business magazine.