MINNEAPOLIS—The financial crash derailed a lot of developments planned for the Twin Cities, but with the partial economic revival, some have gotten back on track. United Properties, for example, will begin developing InverPoint in suburban Inver Grove Heights by constructing a 130,000-square-foot speculative industrial building. United Properties first got approval for InverPoint in 2007 just before everything fell apart.
“We had started doing site work out there but obviously when the recession hit, it ended,” says Brandon Champeau, assistant vice president at United Properties. “We basically mothballed the site for a few years. Since then, there hasn't been a lot of building in the industrial market.” However, business activity has been “accelerating over the last two to three years; there are also not a lot of blocks of space left, especially those with more than 50,000-square-feet.”
The market's vacancy rate climbed as high as 23%, Champeau adds, up from around 10% before the recession got started. The rate recently fell back to its pre-recession level. “That's what got us excited.”
The company will break ground on the restarted project this summer. “In a perfect world, we'd fill it with one big tenant and be on our way.” But the building, with a combination of office and warehouse spaces, will also accommodate tenants who need as little as 16,000-square-feet. “We've identified a number of prospects.”
When fully developed, the total project will include 470,672-square-feet of industrial space in five buildings. The company hopes to attract tenants for the subsequent buildings before construction begins. But building the others on spec also remains a possibility. “That really depends on the success of this one.”
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
