By Dennis Panzer, Managing Principal

A recent article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune featuring the Minneapolis-St. Paul Cassidy Turley office highlighted how companies are rethinking office space design to move to more collaborative floor plans.  Our office recently rethought and ultimately relocated to a new location in the iconic IDS Center in the heart of downtown Minneapolis.

By Kevin Thorpe, Chief Economist 

For the U.S. office market, the past two years have a few recurring themes. Start the year slowly. End the year in a frenzy of activity, and hope for the best for the next year.  After a healthy end to 2012 – almost in spite of an economic holding pattern brought on by elections and potential sequestration – we started 2013 slowly but expect a frenetic third and fourth quarter and marked improvement in 2014.

By Thomas Traugott, Senior Vice President

Many articles in corporate real estate and economic development-related publications regarding data center locations often subscribe to the notion that locating a data center “anywhere” is sufficient. While there is some truth to the idea that data centers can live anywhere, when one looks at data centers as a business investment, understanding how a data center fits into a competitive landscape matters. In an article recently featured in Area Development Online, I had the chance to reflect on why data centers haven’t consolidated in “perfect” data center locations.

By Chris White, Senior Managing Director, Principal

How can your company leverage its real estate portfolio to reduce operating expenses and boost employee efficiency?

To achieve this important objective, it’s essential that you choose a real estate provider with the resources to analyze and understand your company’s operational requirements and business objectives. Too often, tenant representatives view a company’s real estate needs from the “bricks and mortar” standpoint – that is, they focus strictly on a company’s space requirements.

By Garrick H. Brown, Director of Research

Part Three of a Three-Part Series

In Part I and Part II of this series, I discussed impacts on retailer growth including expansion plans and e-commerce. There is one final trend that has created a sea change in retailer growth patterns over the past few years, and I am addressing it last because it is the most obvious. It is also the trend that I expect to remain with us for the least amount of time.

By Tim Michel, Senior Managing Director

With smart phones, tablets and social media, we’re connected 24/7, and there have never been more ways to communicate. Innumerable digital communications tools enable commercial real estate professionals to be more efficient and accomplish more – and from just about anywhere on Earth. But are we breaking through the static and using technology to enhance performance and not as a crutch that replaces personal interaction? As property managers, we must remember the shoe-leather and face-to-face fundamentals that are so vital to our business.

By Garrick H. Brown, Director of Research

Part Two of a Three-Part Series

In Part I of this series, we discussed the rise of expansion plans
for over 3,000 major national retail and restaurant chains and contemplated why this increased demand isn’t making greater dents in the retail vacancy rate. Now let’s take a look at two of the major trends currently impacting retail space use in the U.S.: shrinking big boxes and the impact of e-commerce.

By Wally Pinkard, Chairman

In March 2010 the Cassidy Turley brand was officially launched. Over the past three years the firm has come incredibly far – in terms of serving clients, bringing aboard new talent, expanding our geographic reach, increasing brand recognition, and growing revenue.

By Garrick H. Brown, Director of Research

Part One of a Three-Part Series

At of the close of 2012, retail shopping center vacancy in the U.S. stood at 9%, down slightly from the 9.1% reading of three months earlier and from a peak of 9.8% that was recorded in early 2010. These numbers include all shopping center types – malls, lifestyle centers, power and regional centers, community/neighborhood centers and unanchored strip mall product.  Yet while the overall statistics reflect ongoing, gradual improvement, they also hide a few key trends. 

By Kevin Thorpe, Chief Economist 

February employment stats offered many promising signs, chief among them 236,000 net new jobs for the month and unemployment down to 7.7%, the lowest point in four years. For commercial real estate, the most encouraging detail of the jobs report reveals that 100,000 office-using jobs were created in February, the largest monthly increase since September 2011.