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Telecom Hotels Slow Taking Off in Twin Cities

MINNEAPOLIS-The crash of the Internet and Nasdaq has the telecom hotel industry in the dumps all over the nation. However, the phenomenon never really got going in the Twin Cities.

By Jim McCartney | Updated on March 27, 2001

MINNEAPOLIS-With the boom in the Internet economy and the deregulation of the telecommunications industry, telecom companies were falling all over themselves to lease space in major metropolitan areas. Blame the crash of the high tech stocks, the slumpamong telecom firms, the burst of the Internet bubble, or the general malaise of the economy, but interest in telecom hotels has dropped off sharply nationwide in recent months.

In the Twin Cities, it never really got going. Telecoms initially focused on major metropolitan areas such as Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. When they finally got around to the Twin Cities, they had trouble finding good sites. That’s because the Twin Cities lack big old manufacturing buildings, says Jim Gearen, a partner in Chicago-based Zeller Realty, who manages its Twin Cities office.

Telecommunications providers need high ceilings and large floorplates for their equipment, and they need to be constructed of steel and concrete not wood, to safeguard against fire hazards, he says. Given that the Twin Cities has not had a lot of manufacturing companies based here, there’s a lack of old plants or warehouses that fit the telecom bill, Gearen notes.

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