Finance and Commerce Daily Newspaper, MN articles from February 2007

Finance and Commerce Daily Newspaper, MN archives from February 2007

Hennepin County economic development coordinator initiates plan for helping manufacturers stay put.
February 1, 2007... Byline: Mark Anderson When Patrick Connoy arrived at Hennepin County as a new economic development coordinator in 2003, one of his first tasks was to get in his car and drive the county, talking with municipal officials about the...

Developer David Frauenshuh selling two more St. Paul buildings.
February 1, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard Partnerships that include developer David Frauenshuh have put two more downtown St. Paul buildings up for sale -- the 675,000-square-foot 180 East Fifth Street and the 212,000-square-foot 375 Jackson. The buildings...

Minneapolis officials to get a primer on community benefit agreements (CBAs).
February 1, 2007... Byline: Bill Clements As Mitch Thompson sees it, the deals that Minneapolis officials forge with developers don't always work well for the communities involved. That's where a new tool known as a community benefit agreement (CBA) can...

Big box-anchored community centers prove to be retail stars in Twin Cities area.
February 1, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard If retail real estate remains strong, big box-anchored community centers are clearly the engine driving the trend. That's the picture that emerges from United Properties' latest biannual "Outlook" report on local...

Bloomington-based United Properties reports gains in office and industrial markets.
February 1, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard There was plenty of good news to go around in the latest biannual "Outlook" report from Bloomington-based United Properties. In the office market, United Properties reported absorption of 1.35 million square feet,...

Commentary: Secrets, rumors and gossip.
February 1, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard Commercial real estate is a business of secrets. Many stories begin with little more than vague tips and rumors: "You didn't hear it from me, but I hear that so-and-so is doing a deal with what's-his-name." ...

Minneapolis projects coming together for Master Development.
February 1, 2007... Byline: Mark Anderson Financing activity shifted from short-term development loans to long-term mortgages at Master Development this winter. The northeast Minneapolis-based builder and real estate company has been busy the last several...

Nicollet Avenue retail center in south Minneapolis listed at $4.3 million.
February 1, 2007... Byline: Bob Geiger Nicollet Shoppes, a 28,329-square-foot neighborhood retail center in south Minneapolis, is for sale for $4.3 million. The 11-tenant center, anchored by a Snyder's Drug Store, a Movie Gallery and a Caribou Coffee, is...

Van Dusen mansion in south Minneapolis now listed the old-fashioned way.
February 1, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Christine Viken knows that people saw the media coverage about the Van Dusen mansion being put up for bids on eBay. But Viken wants people to know one thing: The historic mansion did not sell on eBay and...

Minnesota-Dakotas chapter of Certified Commercial Investment Members to look at top 2006 deals.
February 1, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Notable investment deals last year will be the topic of a meeting of the Minnesota-Dakotas chapter of CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Members). The event will be held Thursday, Feb. 15, from 3 to 6...

Minnesota-Dakotas chapter of Certified Commercial Investment Members names officers, board members.
February 1, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The Minnesota-Dakotas chapter of CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Members) has named officers and new board members for 2007. The new officers are J Lindsay, The Lindsay Group, president; Aaron...

Eagan-based JBL Companies Inc. sells South St. Paul Stockyards.
February 1, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Eagan-based JBL Companies Inc. brokered the sale of The Stockyards, a 27.3-acre parcel containing 14 buildings in South St. Paul. Terms of the deal with Interstate Partners of Eagan were not disclosed. The...

Nickelodeon children's cable TV network rreportedly in negotiations with Mall of America.
February 1, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The generic-sounding Park at MOA would add Bikini Bottoms imagery if reported negotiations between executives of Bloomington retail/entertainment center Mall of America and the Nickelodeon children's...

Minnesota Marketing Briefs: February 3, 2007.
February 3, 2007... Byline: Bob Geiger In a bizarre 30-second Super Bowl spot, ad agency Fallon Minneapolis charts an adventurous marketing course for Olathe, Kan.-based navigational products manufacturer Garmin International Inc. Fallon plans to air the...

Online plan rooms offer benefits for members of builders exchange.
February 6, 2007... Byline: Adam Johnson The builders exchanges in Minneapolis and St. Paul have dealt with change many times over the past century. In fact, both buildings still retain a row of installed phone booths near their entryways, beckoning visitors...

Vietnam immigrant succeeds with his now six-year-old company, FlowSense.
February 6, 2007... Byline: Brian Johnson As a boy, Paul Smallwood read Batman comic books, chased and rode water buffaloes, fished with homemade bamboo poles and swam in the streams that cut through his rural Vietnamese village. He cut his entrepreneurial...

University of Minnesota to replace Williams Arena floor, but officials say it won't be until '08.
February 6, 2007... Byline: Brian Johnson Higher-than-expected costs have forced the University of Minnesota to delay its plans to replace the floor at Williams Arena. University officials say the project will begin in March 2008, a year later than previously...

Minnesota's federal funding is give, take.
February 6, 2007... Byline: Adam Johnson It looks like Minnesota will get most of the federal dollars it needs for the myriad of highway and transit projects on the boards for this year. Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill fully...

Minneapolis Police Dept. seeks operational partners to offset costs of proposed new crime lab.
February 6, 2007... Byline: Adam Johnson The "CSI effect" may bear part of the blame, but the Minneapolis Police Department needs a dedicated crime lab and is seeking operational partners to offset the costs of a proposed new facility. Last year,...

Construction employers turning to behavior surveys.
February 6, 2007... Byline: Brian Johnson Liars, thieves, and drug addicts aren't welcome on most construction crews. Sounds simple enough, but how do you weed out job applicants who fit those descriptions? The answer may lie in a test that's designed to...

Two join Braun Intertec office in St. Cloud.
February 6, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Bloomington-based Braun Intertec has added two employees at its St. Cloud office. Andrew Brummer was named project manager, while Ryan Moehn was hired as environmental staff scientist. Brummer will manage...

Sunde Land Surveying of Bloomington buys Comstock and Davis.
February 6, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Sunde Land Surveying LLC of Bloomington has acquired Spring Lake Park-based Comstock and Davis Inc. The Comstock and Davis team of Ron Murphy, Dale Boklep, Frank Lenz and Susan Marquis was retained. Terms...

Minneapolis office of Leo A Daly names Moga principal project manager.
February 6, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The Minneapolis office of the Leo A Daly architectural, planning, engineering and interior design firm has named David Moga senior project manager and principal of health care. Moga has more than 10 years...

Minneapolis architect selected for national award.
February 6, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Philip G. Koski, owner of Minneapolis-based Inland Office for Tomorrow's Architecture, was selected to receive the 2007 Young Architects Award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Koski, 39,...

Minnesota architects win honors.
February 6, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Jessica Vogel of Ellerbe Becket and Jennifer Graham-Charnewski of Julie Snow Architects are co-winners of an annual award that recognizes talented young architects in the state. The St. Paul Prize, from...

Minnetonka-based Lindsay Group owns 25 commercial properties in 10 states.
February 8, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard J. Lindsay is one of those guys who never meant to go into the commercial real estate business. But something went wrong, or right, on the road to wherever it was that he thought he was headed. Today, his...

Saga continues on Grain Belt Brewery in northeast Minneapolis condo project.
February 8, 2007... Byline: Mark Anderson The long-delayed residential condo development across from the Grain Belt Brewery in northeast Minneapolis may be about to disappear. Or then again, it may be ready to get under way -- just a little later than...

Commentary: End of the frenzy?
February 8, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard There's been a ton of capital flowing into real estate in recent years. How many stories have you read about capital's voracious appetite for commercial real estate, about fierce bidding wars and about ever-ballooning...

First Industrial sells eight Twin Cities properties.
February 8, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard Boston-based High Street Equity Advisors LLC has emerged as a new player in the Twin Cities, acquiring eight industrial properties totaling 520,151 square feet for $49.83 million. Beyond issuing a recent press release...

Planning under way for St. Paul Ford site.
February 8, 2007... Byline: Bill Clements While expressing regret for the loss of jobs with the Ford assembly plant closing, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman on Monday night talked about the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of redeveloping the 138-acre site along...

Minneapolis developer Schafer Richardson partners in car-sharing hub in North Loop.
February 8, 2007... Byline: Todd Messelt Minneapolis developer Schafer Richardson has partnered with Hourcar, a Twin Cities-based nonprofit group, to make car-sharing services available to the occupants of its properties in the North Loop area of downtown...

Minneapolis-based PairiPassu adds residential development to the mix.
February 8, 2007... Byline: Mark Anderson PariPassu, the two-year-old Minneapolis real estate company, capped a busy 2006 with a move its principals hope will keep it even busier going ahead. It launched a new line of business. The firm, which was founded by...

BRT station being planned in Minneapolis at 46th Street and I-35W.
February 8, 2007... Byline: Bob Geiger Forget roadside bus shelters. Metro Transit plans to build one in the middle of a bridge. By late 2010, the agency hopes to open a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) station on the 46th Street bridge over Interstate 35W in south...

Conference in Bloomington to address 1031 exchanges.
February 8, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The Real Estate Communications Group Conferences in conjunction with Minnesota Real Estate Journal is presenting the 1031 Exchange & Tax Strategies Summit later this month. A myriad of local and national...

Minneapolis housing effort wins national award.
February 8, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The Corridor Housing Initiative of Minneapolis has won the 2007 National Planning Excellence Award for a Grassroots Initiative from the Washington, D.C.-based American Planning Association. The effort,...

Real estate vet wins Minnesota NAIOP award.
February 8, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The Minnesota chapter of the National Association of Industrial & Office Properties (NAIOP) has awarded its 2006 President's Award to Arne Cook, who specializes in industrial real estate. Cook is managing...

Seven promoted at Minneapolis-based Welsh brokerage unit.
February 8, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Minneapolis-based Welsh Co. has promoted four people to senior vice president and three people to other new titles in its brokerage unit. Bill Wardwell, an executive vice president at Welsh, said those...

Hudson Square in Woodbury sold for $1.1 million.
February 8, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Peter Dufour, a vice president at the Minneapolis office of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker, represented the owner in the sale of Hudson Square Business Center in Woodbury for $1.1 million. The owner of the...

St. Paul to invest in distressed neighborhoods.
February 8, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman on Tuesday announced a city initiative to focus public and private resources and financing on four struggling neighborhoods -- Dayton's Bluff, Lower Eastside, Frogtown and...

Students get 'real-world' training at Risdall Advertising Agency.
February 10, 2007... Byline: Bob Geiger Watch out, reality TV. Risdall Advertising Agency (RAA) is ready to flip the switch on "The Real World New Brighton," a 12-employee ad firm staffed by University of Minnesota students. More than 50 university students...

Eden Prairie-based DLR Group adds architects.
February 13, 2007... Byline: Finance & Commerce Staff Veteran architects Haidee Tan and Alan Hllesland have joined DLR Group. Haidee Tan, a registered architect for 15 years, has worked on hospitality, high-rise, multifamily residential and government...

Event to focus on Forest Stewardship Council-certified lumber.
February 13, 2007... Byline: Finance & Commerce Staff Dovetail Inc. of Minneapolis will offer a bus tour and workshop in Aitkin on Feb. 21. The event will focus on the emerging trend of using lumber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). "Now that...

Upper Midwest minority contractors honor Elizabeth Campbell.
February 13, 2007... Byline: Finance & Commerce Staff The Upper Midwest chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors has presented its 2006 Advocate of the Year award to Elizabeth Campbell of Minneapolis-based Ryan Companies US Inc. The award,...

CBI Services to receive MNSTAR safety award.
February 13, 2007... Byline: Finance & Commerce Staff The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry will recognize CBI Services on Thursday for its worksite safety efforts. CBI Services will receive a MNSTAR award, which recognizes worksites where managers...

Minnesota ABC gives Stotko Speedling 2 awards.
February 13, 2007... Byline: Finance & Commerce Staff Hastings-based Stotko Speedling Construction Inc. has received two merit awards from the Minnesota chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors. Stotko Speedling was recognized for its Greenhouse...

Minnesota Dept. of Transportation reroutes creek in order to expand highway.
February 13, 2007... Byline: Adam Johnson Poets have observed that countless years of history are contained in the simple bend of a river. But it's doubtful that many have waxed lyrical about rerouting the river to make way for the simple bend of a highway,...

Study says Minnesota's prevailing wage is 'a wash'.
February 13, 2007... Byline: Brian Johnson A new report from Minnesota's Office of the Legislative Auditor concludes that there are "no clear answers" about the economic impact of the state's prevailing wage law, despite claims to the contrary by supporters...

Minn. Dept. of Transportation restructures estimated cost in highway project.
February 13, 2007... Byline: Adam Johnson The Minnesota Department of Transportation announced last week that it will take bids for general contractor March 30, nine months after the first project letting closed without fielding a single bidder. MnDOT...

Crosstown project has unusual infrastructure.
February 13, 2007... Byline: Adam Johnson Often cited as the busiest in the state, the intersection of Highway 62 and Interstate 35W has been an 800-pound gorilla for the Minnesota Department of Transportation for years. The main goal of the project is to add...

Duluth's planned hockey arena could earn "green" certification.
February 13, 2007... Byline: Brian Johnson Schools, office buildings and even single-family homes are increasingly wearing the "green" building label as resource- and energy-efficient design sweeps across the country. Sports arenas, on the other hand, tend to...

Minnesota Zoo planning major renovation.
February 13, 2007... Byline: Adam Johnson The Minnesota Zoo is planning a major renovation and new construction, hoping to reverse several years of declining attendance. The goal is to create a more welcoming, natural environment -- a stark contrast to the...

Christos Greek Restaurant finds spot at former Sidney's site.
February 15, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard The Sidney's restaurant chain was a local icon in the 1990s, known for its gourmet pizzas. The chain's last restaurant closed last year amid financial woes. But there's new life at the former Sidney's location in...

Kathleen Palen Geske promoted at Mainstreet Bank.
February 15, 2007... Byline: Finance & Commerce Staff Twenty-year banking and finance veteran Kathleen Palen Geske has been promoted to vice president of Mainstreet Bank's commercial real estate group. Palen Geske specializes in financing services for...

Retail group to review case study of Mall of America.
February 15, 2007... Byline: Finance & Commerce Staff One week before the scheduled Business Day at the State Capitol, the Minnesota Shopping Center Association (MSCA) plans to present a case history of the Mall of America. Called "MOA at 15: What's New and...

Futurist to speak at National Assn. of Industrial and Office Properties meeting.
February 15, 2007... Byline: Finance & Commerce Staff Futurist David Pearce Snyder will be the speaker at the next meeting of the Minnesota chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. The meeting is set for next Tuesday, Feb. 20,...

California firm buys St. Paul office building.
February 15, 2007... Byline: Finance & Commerce Staff Triple Net Properties LLC of Santa Ana., Calif., has acquired the Gallery Professional Building in downtown St. Paul. Terms of the deal, which closed Feb. 5, were not released. The Gallery Professional...

Minneapolis-based Welsh Co. promotes executive.
February 15, 2007... Byline: Finance & Commerce Staff Bill Wardwell has been promoted to executive vice president at Minneapolis-based Welsh Co. Wardwell, who has more than 20 years of commercial real estate experience, oversees 70 brokers as well as support...

Federal tax credit program bears fruit, but will it survive?
February 15, 2007... Byline: Mark Anderson The Midtown Exchange -- the $200 million conversion of the old Sears complex in south Minneapolis -- is one of the region's proudest and most impressive historic reuses. It also gives a good glimpse into the value of...

Suburban office towers in Bloomington back on the drawing board.
February 15, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard Indianapolis-based Duke Realty Corp. threw down the gauntlet last spring when it began construction on a new spec suburban office tower. The 10-story Norman Pointe II project in Bloomington will contain 322,000 square...

Park Service keeps eye on river development.
February 15, 2007... Byline: Bill Clements As Paul Labovitz sees it, Bridges of St. Paul developer Jerry Trooien could have saved himself a lot of time and money if he had embraced National Park Service rules about development along the Mississippi River....

Buffalo Wild Wings plans expansion to new offices.
February 15, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard Fast-growing Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. of St. Louis Park has inked a deal to move across the highway, where it will take the top two floors of the Colonnade office tower in Golden Valley as its new headquarters. The deal...

Behind the scenes at Southdale Mall.
February 15, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard If you grew up in these parts, there's a good chance you were familiar with the Southdale Center mall in Edina. Southdale always has been revered as the first of its class -- the nation's first enclosed regional mall...

Burnsville condos going for deep discounts.
February 15, 2007... Byline: Bob Geiger Incentives and price reductions in condominium advertising are so passe. Try liquidation, as in a deep-discount fire sale. Burnsville condominium development Uptown Landing is doing just that at a liquidation sale this...

Minnesota stadium troubles won't derail transit hub.
February 15, 2007... Byline: Bob Geiger Even if the Minnesota Twins stadium isn't built in the Minneapolis Warehouse District, officials say a transit hub will be needed to connect light rail, commuter rail and bus service in the area. "We still need the hub,"...

Golfers tee up in Minneapolis skyway.
February 15, 2007... Byline: Dan Emerson At the height of cabin-fever season, a new event on Friday, Feb. 23, will offer a brief escape from the winter gloom, and it won't even require a plane ticket. It's the inaugural U.S. Bank Skyway Open, featuring an...

M.A. Mortenson Co. nabs TCF Stadium project.
February 16, 2007... Byline: Brian Johnson M.A. Mortenson Co. scored another big sports project this week when the University of Minnesota selected the Golden Valley-based firm as general contractor for TCF Stadium, the future home of the Gopher football team....

Minnesota Marketing Briefs: February 19, 2007.
February 19, 2007... Byline: Bob Geiger Two state lawmakers introduced legislation on Thursday to allow wine sales in Minnesota supermarkets. The measures, pushed by the Minnesota Grocers Association (MGA), would allow wine containing less than 15.5 percent...

Frerichs Construction Co. of St. Paul to restore one of last old town halls in area.
February 20, 2007... Byline: Adam Johnson Drive along Old Shakopee Road in Bloomington and you might miss it: an unimposing, slant-roofed structure adorned with banal stucco siding and decaying roof shingles. In fact, it's one of the last old town halls left...

Minnesota state lawmakers crack down on copper crooks.
February 20, 2007... Byline: Brian Johnson To most people, copper pipes and wires are useful construction materials. To thieves, they're sources of fast and easy cash. "Copper has become a precious metal," said Jim Gander, owner of Rochester-based Superior...

Construction activity in Minnesota will be flat in '07, economist predicts.
February 20, 2007... Byline: Brian Johnson Schools, hospitals, hotels and other project types will keep contractors busy in 2007 and beyond, if Cliff Brewis' projections are accurate. But don't expect a dramatic surge in building, either locally or...

Rosemount refinery receives MNSTAR certification, the state program for safety and health management.
February 20, 2007... Byline: Adam Johnson Everyone deplores excessive red tape and paperwork. But amidst the endless sea of pipes and girders at Flint Hills Resources' Pine Bend Refinery in Rosemount, it's saving lives. With an injury and illness rate 80...

Minnesota charter schools plan upgrades.
February 20, 2007... Byline: Brian Johnson When middle school students at North Lakes Academy in Forest Lake described their school environment in a survey last year, words like "stuffy" and "crowded" were popular choices for certain interior classrooms....

Minnesota Children's Museum exhibit teaches kids about life and construction.
February 20, 2007... Byline: Todd Messelt What can a construction worker and his crew teach kids about life? Apparently quite a lot. Along with his trusty assistant Wendy and his "can-do crew" -- a fleet of talking construction vehicles with names like Scoop,...

Three executives join Minneapolis-based Kraus-Anderson.
February 20, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Minneapolis-based Kraus-Anderson Construction Co. has hired Scott Bents as a preconstruction manager, Christopher McKane as a project manager and James Carpenter as a project manager. Bents and McKane will...

Daniel Nickols Sr. of Plymouth-based Schoell Madson elected to board.
February 20, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Daniel Nickols Sr. of Plymouth-based Schoell Madson has been elected to the board of directors of the Minnesota Society of Professional Surveyors. Nickols, who is the principal in charge of the surveying...

Minneapolis-based Ellerbe Becket re-elects board members.
February 20, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Shareholders of Minneapolis-based Ellerbe Becket have re-elected Jon Buggy, John Holliman and Michael Krauss to the firm's board of directors. Buggy, Ellerbe Becket's national director of health care...

In some corners of downtown Minneapolis, there is new life on the restaurant scene.
February 22, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard The Campbell Mithun Tower in downtown Minneapolis has been spruced up recently with exterior and facade improvements. Still, a small but key space in the 725,000-square-foot tower remains empty. The 5,000-square-foot...

Several factors limited the number of condos sold over the weekend in Twin Cities.
February 22, 2007... Byline: Bob Geiger Even fire-sale price reductions couldn't melt the cold demand for condominiums at Burnsville's Uptown Landing. Real estate agent Casey Cambridge was confident that all 34 units in the condo complex -- part of the highly...

N.Y. firm expands its investment strategy with Bloomington hotel.
February 22, 2007... Byline: Mark Anderson W.P. Carey & Cos.' announcement last week that it will acquire the 256-room Hilton Hotel that is under construction in Bloomington marked a couple of milestones for the firm. First, the transaction signaled a...

Minneapolis Consortium of Community Developers helps small businesses realize big dreams.
February 22, 2007... Byline: Mark Anderson Growing businesses fill the region's offices, warehouses and manufacturing plants, and there was good news last week from one group that helps those entrepreneurs. The Minneapolis Consortium of Community Developers...

Minneapolis-based Turnstone Group buys Carmichael Lynch Building.
February 22, 2007... Byline: Bob Geiger Minneapolis-based Turnstone Group LLC has acquired the 103,275-square-foot Carmichael Lynch Building at 800 Hennepin Ave. in downtown Minneapolis. Terms for the eight-story building and an adjacent 24,600-square-foot...

Eagan Business Park lands White House Custom Colour.
February 22, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard The Waters of Eagan Business Park has been a consistent success for Minneapolis-based CSM Corp. CSM recently sold a 5.54-acre parcel in the park to White House Custom Colour, a fast-growing digital photofinishing...

Denny Hecker invests in downtown Minneapolis restaurant.
February 22, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard Local car sales pooh-bah Denny Hecker is investing in a downtown Minneapolis building and a new restaurant that will be located there. Hecker is a key investor in the Stimson Building, 700 Hennepin Ave., where the...

Duke Realtly Corp. lures shredding firm to Brooklyn Park biz center.
February 22, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Duke Realty Corp. has signed a long-term lease with Minnesota Shredding LLC for 25,280 square feet at Crosstown North Business Center 4 in Brooklyn Park. Minnesota Shredding, a document-shredding business...