Finance and Commerce Daily Newspaper, MN articles from March 2007

Finance and Commerce Daily Newspaper, MN archives from March 2007

Proposals on small swath of land near Minneapolis Convention Center running out of time.
March 1, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard Last summer, the city of Minneapolis put out a call for development proposals at 1501 Nicollet Ave. S., a slender swath of land in the shadow of the Minneapolis Convention Center. The city bills the 19,000-square-foot...

Real estate borrowers are all smiles.
March 1, 2007... Byline: Mark Anderson If you're a real estate investor, the news this winter from your mortgage banker was repetitive, maybe even dull. There's plenty of money. Borrowing prices are cheap. And more lenders than ever are eager to take a...

Twin Cities group turns down developer funding.
March 1, 2007... Byline: Bill Clements Greg Toltzman just couldn't get comfortable with explaining to a neighbor why the Longfellow Community Council had accepted $200,000 from a local developer. Neither could most of the other members of the 38th Street...

Conflicting appraisals threaten deal for bus barn site in St. Paul.
March 1, 2007... Byline: Bill Clements Disagreement over property value appraisals may doom the latest attempt to find a replacement site for Metro Transit's former bus barn on Snelling Avenue in St. Paul. The setback is the latest to occur in a...

Home Depot planning store in St. Paul near bus barn site.
March 1, 2007... Byline: Bill Clements Home Depot Inc. has filed plans with the city of St. Paul to develop a 103,000-square-foot store, including a 333-spot parking structure on the roof, in the Midway neighborhood of St. Paul. The project, planned for a...

Eden Prairie-based Hartford Group adjusting to market.
March 1, 2007... Byline: Mark Anderson In a slowing housing market, developers often have to be satisfied with whatever opportunities they can find. But the challenges can be daunting. Just ask Keith Gruebele, chief financial officer at the Hartford Group....

Hennepin Co. officials OK funding for commuter rail study.
March 1, 2007... Byline: Bob Geiger The Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority (HCRRA) gave the green light on Tuesday to study a commuter rail line between Minneapolis and Duluth. The HCRRA agreed to spend $100,000 for its share of a feasibility...

Funding an issue for restoration of state Capitol in St. Paul.
March 1, 2007... Byline: Charley Shaw Architect and lifelong Twin Cities resident Michael Bjornberg has been appreciating the classical splendor of the state Capitol in St. Paul his entire life. He calls it the most celebrated part of his native state's...

Former gas station in Minneapolis to become dialysis center.
March 1, 2007... Byline: Bob Geiger DaVita Inc., a California firm that specializes in neighborhood dialysis centers, plans to open a center in a former gas station at 3601 Lyndale Ave. S. in Minneapolis. The clinic, scheduled to open in mid-June, will...

Report: Triple Net Properties to buy Northstar Center in downtown Minneapolis.
March 1, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Triple Net Properties of Santa Ana, Calif., is under contract to purchase Northstar Center in downtown Minneapolis, according to a report on the GlobeSt.com Web site last week. At press time, a...

CBRE brokers apartment deal in Eagan.
March 1, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff A brokerage team that included two people from the Minneapolis office of CB Richard Ellis represented owner Henderson Global Investors Inc. in the sale of Lemay Lake Apartments, a 282-unit building in...

Holmes gives $6M to Carlson School of Management at the Univ. of Minn.
March 1, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Gary Holmes, founder and president of Minneapolis-based CSM Corp., has donated $6 million to the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. The money will be spent on the school's...

Colliers brokers deal for Maple Ridge Center in Maple Grove.
March 1, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The Twin Cities office of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker represented Sarasota, Fla.-based Village West LLC in the purchase of Maple Ridge Center in Maple Grove. Village West paid $6.1 million for the...

Wells Fargo Insurance signs lease deal at Metropoint in St. Louis Park.
March 1, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Wells Fargo Insurance has signed a 54,000-square-foot lease renewal and expansion at the Metropoint office complex in St. Louis Park. The four-building complex, totaling 918,500 square feet, was acquired...

Minnesota Marketing Briefs: March 3, 2007.
March 3, 2007... Byline: Bob Geiger A group of advertising, marketing and public relations executives working from their south metro area homes could not have picked a better time to launch a hire-local promotional campaign. Nearly two feet of snow fell in...

Minneapolis-based Meyer Contracting to begin renovating Loring Greenway in Minneapolis.
March 6, 2007... Byline: Adam Johnson There isn't much green to be seen in Minneapolis' Loring Greenway today, but that's about to change. In April, a crew with Minneapolis-based Meyer Contracting will begin renovation work on the narrow site, constructed...

Value of 'best value' system provokes debate among Minnesota state legislators.
March 6, 2007... Byline: Brian Johnson Minnesota lawmakers are examining a bill that would give government entities more flexibility in awarding construction contracts. House file 571, introduced by Rep. Debra Hilstrom, DFL-Brooklyn Center, would allow...

Bill gives preferential treatment to geothermal systems in Minnesota state projects.
March 6, 2007... Byline: Brian Johnson As renewable energy gets a historic boost at the Legislature, one technology -- geothermal heating and cooling systems -- may soon get special consideration for state-funded building projects. The Legislature, with...

Minnesotans weigh in on federal 'secret ballot' legislation.
March 6, 2007... Byline: Brian Johnson A national debate over secret-ballot voting for union membership has come to Minnesota. The debate centers on a federal legislation, known as the "Employee Free Choice Act," that would amend the National Labor...

City of Minneapolis wants LEED gold certification for planned Hiawatha Maintenance Facility.
March 6, 2007... Byline: Adam Johnson Designing an industrial complex to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification might be a noble goal, but it can be more difficult than it sounds. Architects and engineers will soon...

Minneapolis-based Kraus-Anderson to renovate 90 W. Plato in St. Paul.
March 6, 2007... Byline: Adam Johnson Ramsey County has selected Kraus-Anderson Construction Co. to lead a design-build team that will renovate an office building at 90 W. Plato Blvd. in St. Paul for the county's Property Records and Revenue Department....

National Associated General Contractors group honors Minnesota chapter.
March 6, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The Associated General Contractors of America is honoring the association's Minnesota chapter for its role in urging people to support the motor vehicle sales tax amendment. AGC of Minnesota won the 2007...

Construction workshop set for March 16 at Metrodome in Minneapolis.
March 6, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff A workshop for women-owned, minority-owned and small construction-related firms has been set for Friday, March 16, at the Metrodome. The event, entitled the Constructing Success: Business Skill...

Right-of-way specialist Carol Johnson joins Golden Valley-based WSB & Associates.
March 6, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff WSB & Associates Inc., a Golden Valley-based consulting engineering landscape firm, has hired Carol Johnson as a senior right-of-way agent. Johnson has more than 20 years of experience in right-of-way...

Safety expert joins Minneapolis-based Kraus-Anderson Construction Co.
March 6, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Minneapolis-based Kraus-Anderson Construction Co. has hired former Minnesota OSHA officer Christopher Daas as a safety coordinator in the company's Minneapolis office. He will oversee the company's safety...

Architect Linda Morrissey joins Golden Valley-based M.A. Mortenson Co.
March 6, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Longtime Twin Cities architect Linda Morrissey has joined Golden Valley-based M.A. Mortenson Co. as a senior preconstruction manager. Morrissey will work with customers in the project planning stages. She...

Associated General Contractors of Minnesota members receive fraud warning.
March 6, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The Associated General Contractors of Minnesota is warning contractors about a series of fraudulent letters asking some current and potential U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) contractors for...

Marketing manager hired at Ridgedale Center in Minnetonka.
March 8, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Minnetonka mall Ridgedale Center has hired Robin Weeks-Wynne as marketing manager, replacing Brooke Behrens. Before joining Ridgedale, Weeks-Wynne was senior marketing manager at Rosedale Center in...

Central Corridor center in St. Paul extends hours.
March 8, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The Central Corridor Resource Center in the old Lexington Library at 1080 W. University Ave. in St. Paul has extended its public hours. The resource center's new hours are 3 to 6 p.m. on Mondays, 12 to 2...

Lunch meeting in Minneapolis to feature property tax discussion.
March 8, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Community group University United will sponsor a community brownbag lunch discussion about its new study of property taxes on University Avenue at noon on Thursday, March 29. Jon Commers, chair of the...

Calhoun Square in Minneapolis up for sale as redevelopment stalls.
March 8, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard Calhoun Square, an Uptown retail centerpiece that was slated for a major overhaul, is for sale again. Des Moines-based Principal Real Estate Investors has retained CB Richard Ellis to broker the sale of the...

Call it a comeback for University Avenue in St. Paul.
March 8, 2007... Byline: Bill Clements The findings of a new study of property values and taxes along University Avenue in St. Paul have surprised even the authors of the study. Contrary to popular thinking, the expected construction of the Central...

Minnetonka couple's foresight is 20/20.
March 8, 2007... Byline: Mark Anderson Winter 2002 was just beginning when Paul and Jackie Wischermann, a husband-and-wife team with a pair of impressive resumes in the hotel industry, left their corporate nests and launched Wischermann Partners, their own...

Presbyterian Homes plans $200M mixed-use project in Eden Prairie.
March 8, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard Roseville-based nonprofit Presbyterian Homes & Services is preparing to submit plans to the city of Eden Prairie for a major $200 million redevelopment that will combine more than 700 units of housing with 70,000...

Officials in Minnesota debate pros, cons of land tax.
March 8, 2007... Byline: Bill Clements The property tax study from University United encourages officials to explore assessing the property tax based on the value of land and not the value of improvements to the land. The idea is that taxing the land...

Mr. Movies brings curtain down on last Minneapolis store.
March 8, 2007... Byline: Bob Geiger Rising lease rates, increased competition and a corporate refocus on smaller cities has forced the last Mr. Movies video and game rental store in Minneapolis to close. Customers who returned VHS tapes or DVDs early this...

Effort to reshape Capri Theater under way in Minneapolis.
March 8, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff If all goes well -- and that's assuming a lot -- the last movie theater still standing in north Minneapolis will celebrate a grand re-opening in the first half of 2009. On Feb. 20, Minneapolis theater and...

Kickoff set for Penn-Lowry Crossings retail project in north Minneapolis.
March 8, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Officials from the city of Minneapolis and St. Paul-based Wellington Management Inc. will break ground on Friday for Penn-Lowry Crossings, a 32,000-square-foot commercial retail development at the...

Minnesota Marketing Briefs: March 10, 2007.
March 10, 2007... Byline: Bob Geiger Call it the marriage of YouTube and Explore Minnesota. State tourism officials plan to announce next week that Minnesota's tourism advertising campaign and Web site will include consumer-generated video and written...

City of Minneapolis considers putting a green roof on Target Center.
March 13, 2007... Byline: Brian Johnson While the Minnesota Twins dream of playing their home games on real grass, another sports team in town may soon play under grass. That's because the city of Minneapolis is considering putting a green roof on the...

Study blames Ultra-Low-Sulfur Diesel for host of failed fuel filters in construction vehicles.
March 13, 2007... Byline: Adam Johnson Over the past several months, Minnesota contractors have reported significant fuel filter problems in some of their diesel-run vehicles, possibly linked to the introduction of Ultra-Low-Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) on the...

Easements not making things any easier for Cedar Lake Trail in Minneapolis.
March 13, 2007... Byline: Adam Johnson Plenty of ink has chronicled the land acquisition hurdles that stand before the Twins ballpark development. But a long-gestating project that skirts the stadium site is facing acquisition issues of its own - and must...

New look greets skywalkers at Campbell Mithun Tower in Minneapolis.
March 13, 2007... Byline: Adam Johnson Workers are wrapping up the latest improvement project within the Minneapolis skyway system, a vital part of a $3 million "complete repositioning" underway at Campbell Mithun Tower. Designers say the aim of the...

Green roofs making their way into mainstream construction in Minnesota.
March 13, 2007... Byline: Brian Johnson Folks who put dirt, rubber membranes and plants on top of their roofs might raise eyebrows in some quarters, but there's increasing evidence that green roofs are making their way into mainstream construction. One of...

St. Paul school warms to idea for green roof on gymnasium.
March 13, 2007... Byline: Brian Johnson Karen Rusthoven was skeptical when she first heard the idea of putting a green roof on her school's soon-to-be-built gymnasium. Rusthoven, director of Community of Peace charter school in St. Paul, said a teacher at...

Restructure, review to gain tax advantage.
March 13, 2007... Byline: Scott Remington PORTLAND, Ore. -- Developers and construction professionals face complex tax issues that can strain their limited resources and drain profits. Changing tax laws make tax planning more challenging than ever. As you...

Graduate engineer joins Minnetonka office of Short Elliott Hendrickson.
March 13, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Kevin Peterson has joined the Minnetonka office of Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc. as a graduate engineer in the civil group. He will work on municipal projects, specializing in preparing street and...

Minn. Dept. of Transportation begins weight restrictions statewide today.
March 13, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The Minnesota Department of Transportation announced that spring road weight restrictions will go into effect today in the north and north-central frost zones, making the restrictions statewide. The...

Minnesota Department of Transportation sets public hearing for interchange project.
March 13, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff A proposed interchange project at Highway 13 and County Road 5 will be the subject of a March 28 public hearing in Burnsville. The hearing - scheduled for 6:30-8 p.m. at Burnsville City Hall - will...

Conflicting agendas heat up meter farm debate in Minneapolis.
March 15, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard Plans to redevelop the Meter Farm site in Loring Park have become politically charged, with one potential developer abruptly dropping out this week and neighborhood residents complaining about shifting city development...

Lights in downtown areas can be big problem for birds.
March 15, 2007... Byline: Bill Clements On March 11, 2002, six months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, two enormous beams of light pierced the night sky from a spot adjacent to Ground Zero in New York. For 32 days, from dusk until 11 p.m., the...

Developing ways to build bird-friendly buildings.
March 15, 2007... Byline: Bill Clements On Jan. 31, 2006, Toronto became the first city in the world to adopt building design and lighting standards that aim to protect birds from colliding with buildings. The city council voted unanimously for a resolution...

Minnesota-based Angleson, Dougherty partner in new investment firm.
March 15, 2007... Byline: Mark Anderson Bob Angleson is putting out a new shingle, this time in partnership with Michael Dougherty, founder of one of the region's leading financial firms, Dougherty & Co. Angleson announced last week that he is leaving his...

When the condo market cooled, Minnesota developer decided to build apartments instead.
March 15, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard When Kowalski's Markets closed its Minnetonka location in Glenhaven Center in the fall of 2004, shopping center owner Tom Wartman conceived a broader redevelopment concept for the area. Part of his plan for the Glen...

SimonDelivers faces court action over sublease space in Golden Valley.
March 15, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard SimonDelivers Inc. is facing eviction on a space it leases but no longer occupies in Golden Valley. Landlord FTK Properties served eviction notice to the online grocery delivery service on Tuesday. SimonDelivers leases...

Plymouth-based Dominium Management Inc. selling Richfield apartment complexes.
March 15, 2007... Byline: Bob Geiger Plymouth-based Dominium Management Inc. is asking nearly $20 million for two apartment complexes at 6301 and 7437 Lyndale Ave. S. in Richfield. When completed, the deals for the Gateway Pointe complexes will mark...

Minneapolis-based Geneva Organization picks up real estate investment pace.
March 15, 2007... Byline: Mark Anderson The Geneva Organization plans to pick up its pace of real estate investing in 2007, and the firm's activity so far suggests that it hopes to achieve that goal by acquiring more expensive properties. The...

Two more hotels in the works for the Twin Cities.
March 15, 2007... Byline: Mark Anderson The Twin Cities hotel expansion marches on. Medina homebuilder Dean Johnson is set to break ground in May on a 129-room Cambria Suites hotel at Interstate 94 and Maple Grove Parkway in Maple Grove. The area is in a...

Philadelphia-based REIT buys former Best Buy headquarters in Eden Prairie.
March 15, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Liberty Property Trust, a Philadelphia-based real estate investment trust, announced last week that it has purchased the former Best Buy headquarters in Eden Prairie. Liberty also said that is has reached...

Bill before Minnesota lawmakers seeks funding for Northstar extension.
March 15, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Even before the state has received final federal funding to complete the first leg of the Northstar Commuter Rail line from Minneapolis to Big Lake, lawmakers are looking for $750,000 to pay for a study...

Public meeting planned in St. Paul to address redevelopment plan for Ford Motor Co.site.
March 15, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The first public meeting to address the potential redevelopment of Ford Motor Co.'s Twin Cities Assembly Plant in St. Paul is set for Monday at 6:30 p.m. at the Lumen Christi Catholic Church, 2055 Bohland...

Minnesota Shopping Center Association panel to discuss 'town center' suburban developments.
March 15, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The Minnesota Shopping Center Association will sponsor a panel discussion next month on the mixed-use "town center" development concept that is popular in the suburbs. Janet Jeremiah, community...

'Historic Photos of Minneapolis' set for March 24 release.
March 15, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff A book containing nearly 200 vintage photos of the city of Minneapolis will be available later this month, offering viewers a black-and-white glimpse of how the city has changed over the past 150 years....

The Departing.
March 16, 2007... Byline: Dan Heilman At age 74, Fergus Falls attorney Dick Pemberton is in no hurry to retire. But as a longtime partner of the Pemberton, Sorlie, Rufer & Kershner law firm, he's confident that nobody's plotting to push him out, either. In...

Minneapolis Marketing Briefs: March 16, 2007.
March 17, 2007... Byline: Bob Geiger Minneapolis ad agency gets Cellular South account Minneapolis agency Martin/Williams Advertising landed Jackson, Miss.-based Cellular South's account this week, connecting with a wireless phone provider six years...

Construction workforce in U.S. increasingly Hispanic.
March 20, 2007... Byline: Adam Johnson Construction employment increased by 5 percent nationwide in 2006, and two-thirds of all new construction jobs were filled by Hispanic workers, according to a new report by the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, D.C....

Schools in Minnesota scrambling to pay for repairs.
March 20, 2007... Byline: Brian Johnson While new mega-schools are on the drawing boards for Chanhassen, Farmington and other growing areas, some school districts in older parts of the metro are struggling to keep up with the buildings they have. School...

Marathon renovation in Minneapolis.
March 20, 2007... Byline: Adam Johnson Patience is a virtue when dealing with any renovation project. But when the work takes 15 years to complete, it's an absolute necessity. Jose Cervantes, director of the Municipal Building Commission (MBC), knows that...

St. Cloud State seeks $11M for hockey arena upgrade.
March 20, 2007... Byline: Brian Johnson St. Cloud State University's National Hockey Center got rave reviews when it first opened 18 years ago. Now it's so 1990s, according to the folks who want to renovate and expand the building. A proposed $13 million...

Bill in Minnesota boosts construction education.
March 20, 2007... Byline: Brian Johnson Every year, Minnesota State University-Moorhead's construction management program sends future construction managers to a regional competition that challenges students to tackle real-life construction problems. This...

ABC Minnesota finds a friend in Rep. Emmer.
March 20, 2007... Byline: Brian Johnson With the current makeup of the DFL-controlled state Legislature, the Associated Builders and Contractors of Minnesota and others who represent merit shop construction don't have as many friendly ears at the Capitol as...

St. Cloud State science addition part of a larger science strategy.
March 20, 2007... Byline: Adam Johnson Just as physics dominated the major scientific advances of the 20th century, many analysts see bioscience as its frontier-pushing counterpart for the next several decades. But while research institutions like the...

Minnesota St. Cloud State University calls for increased lab space.
March 20, 2007... Byline: Adam Johnson A number of facilities within MnSCU's 32 schools can be renovated to accommodate the shift away from departmentalized classroom and lab space, but the pace of change within the biosciences industry is driving a push...

Morrissey joins Golden Valley-based M.A. Mortenson Co.
March 20, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Longtime Twin Cities architect Linda Morrissey has joined M.A. Mortenson Co. Morrissey, a senior preconstruction manager, will head up Mortenson's 3D/4D technology group. The group uses high-tech...

Three executives join Minneapolis-based Kraus-Anderson Construction Co.
March 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...

Minneapolis-based Ellerbe Becket re-elects board members.
March 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...

Nickols elected to board of Minn. Society of Professional Surveyors.
March 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...

ASA Minnesota hands out awards to its members.
March 20, 2007... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The American Subcontractors Association of Minnesota (ASA-MN) presented four of its members with Membership Excellence awards and recognized two general contractors with TOPS awards last week, recognizing...

Spec of a deal for industrial markets in the Twin Cities.
March 22, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard Developers are rolling up their sleeves in the northwest industrial market. At least four spec projects are slated to be built this year, while several other sites are being shopped or are in play. Indianapolis-based...

Archway subleasing 500K square feet in northwest market of Minneapolis.
March 22, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard As several developers prepare to build spec industrial projects in the northwest market, some large blocks of space are becoming available in the sublease market. While that could be a boon for tenants seeking more...

Minnetonka-based Opus Northwest takes over at The Nicollet project.
March 22, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard Houston-based Hines Interests is out and Minnetonka-based Opus Northwest is in at the much-watched The Nicollet condo project in downtown Minneapolis. But at the moment, it's unclear what exactly will rise on the...

Chaudhary seeks Fridley rail station.
March 22, 2007... Byline: Bob Geiger A state senator wants the state to build a Northstar Commuter Rail station in Fridley, even though officials removed the station from the rail line last year because of cost concerns. State Sen. Satveer Chaudhary,...

E*Trade to open at 50 South Sixth in downtown Minneapolis.
March 22, 2007... Byline: Burl Gilyard E*Trade Financial plans to open its first local retail location at 50 South Sixth in downtown Minneapolis. The office, just under 4,000 square feet, is anticipated to open May 1 on the ground floor facing the Nicollet...

Minnesota Sen. John Marty says 'Show us the money'.
March 22, 2007... Byline: Charley Shaw Thomson West officials are playing hardball in their efforts to win state funding for their proposed expansion project in Eagan, and state Sen. John Marty doesn't like it. Richard King, chief operations officer for the...