Bridging the Gap

On Aug. 1, 2007, Minneapolis was forever changed when a collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge took out a main artery into and out from the heart of the city’s Downtown. The news of this disaster was widely reported and very soon after, the actual economic and business impact began to play out across the city and the country.

An interesting perspective from this tragedy is the impact to some of my clients who tell me that rising fuel costs coupled with the rising costs of delivering their product or service to customers after Aug. 1 has materially hurt their bottom line.

In contrast to retail real estate where the client’s locations are the destination, for a few of my corporate real estate clients, their locations are the origination. If a part of your business is in supply, transportation and logistics, a disaster like the I-35W bridge collapse can indeed take a huge toll on you profits due to increased transportation costs.