Archive for May, 2011
How you can help the North Minneapolis recovery effort
An update from NAIOP Minnesota’s charitable partner, Catalyst Community Partners
Catalyst’s recovery work
Catalyst is leading the commercial property recovery efforts and is hosting 2 emergency one-stop shop assistance sessions for all commercial property owners and businesses impacted by Sunday’s tornado with 8 other collaborating agencies and the City of Minneapolis. Up to 50 businesses may have been impacted. Catalyst will organize donations of services, volunteers, building materials, etc. needed to get the commercial properties and their small business tenants operational again. If your organization can assist in these recovery projects in the coming months, please contact Catalyst President Sue Wollan Fan at (612) 877-4004 or sue@catalystcommunitypartners.org.
What you can do
Send a check of any amount to Catalyst Tornado Recovery Fund, 3033 Excelsior Boulevard, Minneapolis MN 55416 or donate online (designate “Tornado Recovery Fund” in the comments area). Catalyst will use these funds to assist commercial property owners and small businesses in their recovery. You can also give online to the general Tornado Recovery fund administered by the Minneapolis Foundation – click here.
Neighborhood update
All Catalyst properties withstood the storm with minimal damage. Catalyst’s newly renovated 5 Points building located at the “ground zero” intersection of Penn & West Broadway had only a few tears in the roof membrane from flying debris. Surrounding buildings did not fare as well. Many had their facades and roofs ripped off; some were flattened.
Since Monday, Catalyst and KMOJ-FM radio have been operating an emergency resources center at 5 Points where hundreds of residents have given and received food, water, blankets and immediate family needs. The 5 Points outdoor plaza has become a central gathering spot for volunteers, organizers and residents needing assistance. From its 2nd level offices, KMOJ-FM broadcasted for 53 hours straight without electrical power, providing public announcements and updates via a small generator. Full story
Nate Dogs, a Kindred Kitchen member-business, served 500 free hot dogs at an impromptu community BBQ on Monday night in the Cub Store parking lot for 400 tornado victims. Food trucks throughout the metro area joined in the event. Full story
My Tenant Won’t Leave at the End of Its Term – Now What?
By Christopher Huntley, Attorney
Your existing tenant’s lease has come to an end. You’ve lined up a new tenant, spent hours negotiating a lease, signed it up, and are ready to move forward. You only have one small problem; your existing tenant hasn’t vacated its premises yet. What can you do? A landlord’s behavior at this stage is key to how the courts will treat the existing tenant’s occupancy and therefore takes careful consideration.
How to Treat a Holdover Tenant
Under Minnesota law a landlord may either treat the holdover tenant’s occupancy as “wrongful” with no additional right of occupancy or as a tenant holding over under the terms of the existing lease. If the landlord selects the former, the landlord must follow specific rules to avoid an inadvertent extension of the lease term. First, the landlord must not dictate new lease terms or increase the tenant’s rental rate for the tenant’s occupancy as such demands will be deemed to be an acquiescence of the tenant’s occupancy and therefore an extension of the lease term. (more…)
Urgent Request for the North Minneapolis Community & Catalyst Community Partners
As you are all aware, a major tornado touched down in the North Minneapolis area yesterday afternoon. This particular area is served by Catalyst Community Partners, NAIOP Minnesota’s community enhancement partner.
Many of our NAIOP members have helped Catalyst and this neighborhood and they need our help more than ever this week! The devastation that occurred is much worse than it appears on the TV stations. Many families are displaced, homes are in shambles and debris is everywhere.
If you can help, please consider donating any of the items listed below. You can either bring them to the May 24 NAIOP Minnesota program (8:00 am at the Sheraton Bloomington hotel), or contact Julie Yeazle of RJM Construction at 952-893-8266 or Sonja Dusil of NorthMarq at 612-305-2144.
Members of our Community Enhancement Committee will be collecting items and delivering them to Catalyst this week. Your help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!
ITEMS NEEDED:
-Wet wipes
-First aid items, bug spray
-Trash bags
-Batteries
-Rakes
-Rubbermaid containers (all sizes)
-Ziploc storage bags (all sizes)
-Work gloves
-Coolers
-Cleaning supplies (i.e. Lysol, sponges, shop towels, etc)
-Personal care products (soap, toothpaste/brushes, deodorant, feminine care, etc)
-Tarps of all sizes
-Bottled water and gallon drinking water
-Packing tape and duct tape
-New unopened medicines (i.e. Children’s Tylenol, Advil for adults, etc)
-Diapers (all sizes)
-Chain saws & replacement chains
What’s a QR Code?
QR (Quick Response) Codes, you’ve seen them in stores, magazines, they’re everywhere!
What’s a QR Code?
QR codes are bar codes, often shaped as a square, and can be created by anyone by using one of many free websites. It takes seconds to create. QR Codes share information such as a website link or business card. You use your mobile phone to scan it.
How do I scan a QR code?
You’ll need to download an app from your app store. Here’s a list of the most popular free QR Code Readers:
- Redlaser (iPhone and Android)
- NeoReader (most platforms)
- QR Code Scanner Pro – Free (Blackberry)
- QR deCODEr (Palm)
Once you download the app, the app will do all the work. Just launch the app and point your camera at the code and it’ll automatically load the information.
What’s the Point?
The possibilities are endless. For a real estate agent, rather than posting your phone number on a billboard, a QR code can automatically dial your number or load information about your property on the potential client’s phone. Or the next time you go shopping, save money by using your QR code reader to scan regular bar codes on the product packaging and it’ll tell you the pricing online or at another retailer.
NAIOP Golf Event – Live Scores from the Course!
At the upcoming golf event, we’ll have live scoring and a leaderboard on the Pulse so you can keep track of the other groups. On your cart, you’ll have a QR code to scan; which will take your mobile phone’s web browser to the leaderboard.
Vikings Stadium
What are your thoughts regarding funding, location and construction timing for the proposed Vikings stadium? If you were in charge of the project, what would you do?
NAIOP’s Public Policy Committee Learns about SAC from the Environmental Services Finance Director for the Met Council
SAC (Sewer Access Charges) applied by the Met Council Environmental Services (MCES) at the time of retrofitting space or redeveloping property have been causing a lot of frustration and confusion among NAIOP members. NAIOP members have expressed a notable change, an inconsistency in the way charges are currently being implemented and a significant increase in cost.
In a nutshell, the steep decline in metro area development has resulted in MCES’ increased costs being spread over fewer payers.
For the commercial real estate industry, it means there is no end in sight near-term for the continuing increases in local SAC charges.
Read about the problem, the impact for the commercial real estate industry, and a quick summary of how the MCES operates.
From the conversation with Jason Willet, finance director for the Met Council’s Environmental Services, at the May 5th Public Policy Committee meeting.
Dissecting city spending
I don’t think I’m unique in not recalling a single time when my tax statement—whether the value of my home was up or down—did not call for more money than I paid the year before … my puzzlement over what caused those constant increases was shared by my equally baffled neighbors. When we asked our elected officials, we were greeted with the usual finger-pointing: the city blamed it on cutbacks in state aid, the state fingered the city for excessive spending. As a result, taxpayers have great difficulty understanding what underlies local spending decisions, including what is mandated by state and federal governments and what local government can control itself.
Read the article.
Read more about standardized object code reporting.
SouthWest Journal, May 2, 2011
More details, more power to the people
Property taxes are necessary, hard to fathom and sometimes painful to pay. They can increase when our property values go down? And the opposite can also be true? Say what?
Hard to fathom is right. But one constant in property taxes is spending by local governments — the cities, counties and school districts whose levies make up most of the property tax bill. Keeping a foot on the brake of local spending is one important way to keep property taxes within reason.
Read more.
Pioneer Press, April 27, 2011
50-State Property Tax Comparison Study
The Minnesota Taxpayers Association just updated their 50 state property tax rankings for payable 2010. Again, their study continues to show a high burden for business properties in Minnesota. A couple of key findings from that report for business property taxes include:
- Homestead taxes remain modest compared to neighboring states and are below the national average.
- Urban and rural $25 million commercial properties and rural $1 million commercial properties are all still ranked well within the top 10 nationally.
- Industrial burdens generally range from 10% below national averages to 20% above national averages depending on property values and location within the state.
- And, even though commercial properties in Minnesota have experienced significant competitive improvement since 1995, when comparing three different property values of commercial buildings in Minneapolis, property taxes payable are still 12-44% above the national average. When comparing three different property values on commercial buildings in Glencoe, property taxes payable are 19-54% above the national average.
Minnesota Senate passes a cut in business property tax bills
Ending state tax would return $700M to payers; odds of passing slim.
Read more.
Finance & Commerce, April 6, 2011
