Minnesota

As a team, we work heavily in mixed-use leasing and development sourcing. Our team handles the commercial leasing on many mixed-use projects within the Twin Cities market, where we also source and find locations for mixed-use apartment developers. This article will give a current snapshot of the mixed-use retail and apartment market within the Twin Cities. What types of projects? There are many three- to six-story, podium-style apartment buildings popping up all over the urban areas of Minneapolis-St. Paul. This product type can also be found in the suburbs. The first floor, or the podium, is constructed out of concrete and allows for up to five additional floors. This is very prevalent in our market and we don’t see this changing soon. However, advanced timber construction is just starting to show itself in the Twin Cities. The mid-rise and high-rise multifamily buildings are mostly contained to the urban core areas. These projects are all concrete construction. It took up until the last five years or so to see major grocers occupy the first floor. We have observed many examples of this and have worked with some of the large nationals as well as larger, local grocers.  Mixed-use does not appear …

The Twin Cities apartment market is historically characterized by high occupancy and minimal volatility, with consistent and solid year-over-year rent increases, minimal concessions and a sustained vacancy rate well below 5 percent. As a result, there is abundant interest from investors and lenders alike to place capital in the Twin Cities.  The lending environment for Twin Cities’ apartment owners appears poised for another great run in 2019, with all lender types having a large appetite to place capital in the market. Agency lenders Agency lenders (Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and HUD) have been extremely active, and that will not change. Their allocations remain high, and all agencies are expected to compete aggressively for business. Additionally, there is an increased focus on products catering to affordable and workforce housing, not only for existing properties, but in providing loan commitments and locked interest rates for takeout financing for affordable or workforce housing projects.    The agency reach extends geographically to secondary and tertiary out-of-state markets as well, with minimal impact on underwriting standards. Agency lenders are able to provide relatively high leverage, longer-term, nonrecourse financing for all classes of apartments. Their ability to offer partial or full-term interest-only payments is a significant …

Like several other markets across the country, the Twin Cities is experiencing the peak of the post-recession construction cycle. However, the traditionally tight multifamily market is in one of the best positions to absorb new units. In fact, Minneapolis-St. Paul has consistently reported one of the lowest vacancy rates in the nation due to a strong economic base and pent up demand for new units. Metro Minneapolis is the second-largest economic center in the Midwest and the local economy has grown at an average of 3 percent over the past five years, a healthy rate in the Midwest. The 18 Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the area are a significant driver of job growth and rental demand, along with the hundreds of support firms. As a result, the unemployment rate is below 3 percent and among the lowest in the nation. Despite a lack of available talent, employers managed to create 30,600 jobs in the year-long period ending in the second quarter. Overall, payrolls expanded by 1.5 percent during that time. Employment growth is encouraging development across several sectors in the market. In South Minneapolis, construction along the Blue Line is taking shape as $300 million in projects are coming …

Following the recession, demand for multifamily development took off in many areas of the country. We predicted it as significant economic and demographic changes were happening, spurring a shift from homeownership to renting. As a result, the multifamily sector experienced a resurgence that hadn’t been seen in decades. In some cities where an abundance of multifamily projects have been delivered, there is discussion of potential saturation. That’s not the case in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, where demand for multifamily developments remains strong and the vacancy rate is an extremely low 2.6 percent. Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, at the end of 2016 the vacancy rate in the Twin Cities compared quite favorably with other metropolitan areas such as San Antonio, Texas (13.6 percent); Tampa, Fla., (11.6 percent); and Tulsa, Okla. (10.2 percent). Keep in mind that a 5 percent vacancy rate is considered to be a stabilized market. Healthy job growth Several economic factors continue to drive apartment demand in the Twin Cities, including job growth, low unemployment and a strong base for business expansion. Minnesota ranks third in the nation for number of Fortune 500 companies per capita. Prominent corporations with headquarters …