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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: August 8th, 2019, 1:23 pm
by CalMcKenney
As a 22 year old I have almost no contextual reference, but does it feel like companies are beginning to move back into Minneapolis more than they have in recent years? It may be that I'm simply not paying attention to stories about companies moving out for the suburbs, but the headlines seem good as of late. It'd make sense to me as a way for a company to attract young workers who wish to both live and work in the city.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: August 9th, 2019, 8:17 am
by QuietBlue
Yes, it's been happening for a while now. It seems to me like it has slowed a little bit, but it hasn't stopped. It's one of those things that makes more sense for certain companies and types of companies than others, and I think that will affect how much of it we see going forward.

The main benefit to being in the city for employers is the central location relative to the rest of the metro, and the proximity to things like hotels, transit, etc. I see it more about attracting larger numbers of workers rather than just younger ones. For example, I live and work in the south suburbs, and I'd sooner accept a position in downtown Minneapolis than, say, Lino Lakes, because I can at least use express buses to get to and from downtown (and I did that for about ten years).

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: August 9th, 2019, 9:41 am
by SurlyLHT
I'm hoping the SWLRT helps bring more jobs Downtown by connecting the SW metro corporate campuses to Downtown. Especially UnitedHealth Group.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: August 9th, 2019, 10:20 am
by bubzki2
Another thing to bear in mind is that the decision makers at businesses are still vast majority Boomers for now. When Millennials finally take over the leadership roles at law firms, financials, etc. that are currently in the burbs, I look for a mass migration of businesses back to the city centers. But I might just be projecting.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: August 9th, 2019, 2:29 pm
by QuietBlue
The Millennials have to wait behind the Gen-Xers, aka the powers behind the throne at a lot of these places. :)

I'm sure we will still see more companies locate downtown over time, but my gut feeling is that most of the major ones that would, have done so by now or are in the process of it. I thought most of the major financial companies and law firms were already downtown anyway.

Plus, as living in the core cities becomes more expensive, more people in their 20's and 30's are going to live further out in the suburbs. Obviously young people are not going to stop living in the cities, because they always have, but a lot of the growth was fueled by the low housing prices at the start of the decade.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: August 9th, 2019, 4:40 pm
by twinkess
Don't forget the Xennials!

Re: RE: Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: August 9th, 2019, 6:51 pm
by David Greene

The Millennials have to wait behind the Gen-Xers, aka the powers behind the throne at a lot of these places.
Gen-X and "power." Hahahahahaha ha hahahaha haha ha haha ha ha..ha...ha.

Oh wait, you were serious?

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk


Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: September 24th, 2019, 7:42 pm
by Silophant
Another SV tech firm expanding to Minneapolis and bringing 120 employees to the Baker Center.
The company contracted with real estate firm CBRE Group Inc. to consult on a location for its first major U.S. expansion outside of California. It told CBRE that talent was the No. 1 factor to consider, that cost was important but not crucial, and to not consider weather. That criteria determined Minnesota as the top spot to open a new office.
Just gotta get more companies to say that bolded part.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: September 25th, 2019, 8:28 am
by SurlyLHT
I'm wondering if you want a downtown office space if you get more bang for your buck in Downtown St Paul than Minneapolis?

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: September 25th, 2019, 9:18 am
by MNdible
Well, if you're ignoring amenities and adjacencies and just looking at a straight $/sf value, you'd get more bang for your buck in Downtown Fergus Falls.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: September 25th, 2019, 9:31 am
by SurlyLHT
Downtown St Paul would be a compromise between Downtown Minneapolis and Fergus Falls. It still has freeway connections and transit and a downtown ambiance with the added value of less traffic and chaos. I took the 94 between the two downtowns this week and their very different, but Downtown St Paul is still very nice. They seem to have a few tech startups or something. there. I noticed signs on the buildings of businesses whose names I didn't recognize. The growth of Downtown Minneapolis is making it a harder place to navigate and etc. The buses can't even get through the intersections.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: September 25th, 2019, 9:42 am
by CalMcKenney
Incoming ignorant opinion, but as a millennial I view St. Paul as so incredibly sad compared to Minneapolis. I would assume young employees in tech firms would be much more pleased to come from around the country to work in Minnesota and find themselves in energetic and vibrant Minneapolis as opposed to St. Paul.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: September 25th, 2019, 10:20 am
by elliotDTown
I would agree, as a 5 year resident of MN I have lacked any urge to go to St. Paul except for a couple events. I was told, if you want to go to bed early go to St. Paul and if you wanna stay and play go to Minneapolis.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: September 25th, 2019, 10:40 am
by HKM
Downtown St Paul would be a compromise between Downtown Minneapolis and Fergus Falls. It still has freeway connections and transit and a downtown ambiance with the added value of less traffic and chaos. I took the 94 between the two downtowns this week and their very different, but Downtown St Paul is still very nice. They seem to have a few tech startups or something. there. I noticed signs on the buildings of businesses whose names I didn't recognize. The growth of Downtown Minneapolis is making it a harder place to navigate and etc. The buses can't even get through the intersections.
I have nothing against Downtown St. Paul, but someone once told me that "Minneapolis is the city for people who aren't from here, St. Paul is the city for the locals." I don't fully agree with that statement, but as far as the downtowns are concerned I do feel downtown Minneapolis is more of the "face of the metro area" Central Business District on par (albeit at a smaller scale) with peer metro areas, while downtown St. Paul feels more like a large regional city like Des Moines, Omaha, or Lincoln. There is nothing right or wrong with either and there are a lot of issues at play, but I can see which one someone from outside the region is more likely to gravitate to.

It's also difficult to overstate how important proximity to the airport is for national/international businesses, which is a no-contest right now, particularly for business travelers more accustomed to mass transit from NY, Chicago, Boston, DC, etc. Better transit connections (a quicker trip than the Green Line with more frequent service than the 94) between both downtowns would be tremendously beneficial for everybody.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: September 25th, 2019, 11:10 am
by xandrex
Sure, DT St. Paul is cheaper, but it's farther away from the metro's center of gravity, which is pretty clearly Minneapolis/west metro.

I worked at one of the few tech companies in DT St. Paul until earlier this year, and it was pretty notable that a pretty substantial portion of the young talent lived in Minneapolis. There were a few people in St. Paul proper and then some married-with-kids folks in the east metro, but I have to imagine they'd have an easier time recruiting if they were located in Minneapolis (no small part of my departure was the often hellish afternoon commute).

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: September 25th, 2019, 11:22 am
by MNdible
Yep, exactly. I didn't mean to suggest that St. Paul is the same as Fergus Falls, but just to point out that there's a reason that the going rate for Class A in downtown Minneapolis is $33.57 and downtown St. Paul is $26.76. [source PDF]

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: September 25th, 2019, 11:38 am
by alexschief
Downtown St. Paul has the best physical urbanism of any place in the Twin Cities. You can't beat Lowertown especially for a great urban scale. If you don't go, you're missing out. The problem is that not enough people live and work there.

I do think that is somewhat changing, as downtown St. Paul's Class B and C office gets converted to apartments, and more flexible office space is being built. As has been the recent trend in Minneapolis, renovated buildings like Butler Square or Baker Center have proven to be big draws.

But St. Paul is behind Minneapolis, those conversions take time, there is a particular problem landlord who is a huge roadblock to progress, the rail transit link down the Riverview corridor is still a decade or more out, and the new office and housing plans are still speculative at this point. We'll see if it gets there, I certainly hope it does. Downtown St. Paul has fantastic bones.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: September 25th, 2019, 12:02 pm
by dajazz
But St. Paul is behind Minneapolis
Candidly I don't see that ever changing.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: September 26th, 2019, 11:47 am
by VacantLuxuries
CityPages touched on the issues facing Downtown St. Paul in this article - namely that the owner of half of downtown doesn't see any value in making it a vibrant place to be and doesn't work with the St. Paul Downtown Alliance or the Port Authority.

But that's digressing a bit far off topic.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Posted: September 26th, 2019, 4:40 pm
by Didier
Not speaking specifically to the downtown, but I think it’s easy for west metro/Minneapolis people to equate St. Paul being smaller with St. Paul being irrelevant, when really St. Paul and the east metro in general have their own smaller but similar ecosystem. Like for me there was a long time when I’d never go to Uptown or much of anywhere in Minneapolis, and instead Grand Avenue served the same purpose.