©2022 Real Estate Publishing Corporation October 2022 • VOL. 38 NO. 4
Development Showcase: ALVERA Page 13 Development Showcase: Rya at RF64 Page 29
Supply chain issues. A labor shortage. An increasingly competitive market: Can modular construction provide the relief developers seek? By Dan Rafter, Editor
An example of a current modular project taking place in the Midwest is the Pentagon Village Apartments, a six-story, 202-unit apartment project planned for the Twin Cities suburb of Edina, Minnesota.
D
evelopers face plenty of challenges today: It’s difficult to find experienced labor. Material costs keep rising. And supply chain disruptions mean that it can be difficult to get everything from insulation to concrete and steel to construction sites on time.
That’s why it’s not surprising to many commercial real estate professionals that developers are slowly, but steadily, turning to modular construction when building restaurants, hotels, apartment projects and healthcare facilities.
tial projects: Anywhere from 60% to 90% of a building -- whether it be an apartment development, fast-food restaurant, hotel or school building -- is built offsite in a factory or manufacturing facility.
Modular construction in the commercial development industry works much the same as it does with residen-
CONSTRUCTION (continued on page 11)
Building a stronger office market? Twin Cities CRE pros say pandemic challenges are resulting in better office space today By Dan Rafter, Editor
N
o one disputes this: The COVID-19 pandemic hit the office sector as hard as any asset class – or even harder – in commercial real estate.
But what does the future now hold for this still-struggling sector? In the Twin Cities, at least, brokers working the office market say that this sector is starting to
show signs of a rebound, even as vacancy rates remain high.
might have to leave Class-B or -C space and seek new space in Class-A buildings.
But as the office market recovery continues, expect to see some pain. Not all office buildings in the Twin Cities and their suburbs will survive. Not all workers will return to the office on a full-time basis. And those companies that do want their employees to come back
The good news, though, is that these challenges are not insurmountable. And local CRE pros say that the future looks brighter for the office sector in the Twin Cities market. OFFICE (continued on page 8