Beyond the Skyline

This special episode of Beyond the Skyline features an Experts Forum on affordable housing. Housing instability and homelessness across Minnesota are being exacerbated by the converging crises of COVID-19 and persistent racial injustice, presenting a serious blow to our social and economic stability. Our panelists discussed how Minnesota’s long-term prosperity and economic competitive edge hinges...

As a building and planning firm that specializes in school development, design and construction, Minneapolis-based ICS has plenty of work opportunities these days. In recent months, the firm has advised school districts in Minnesota and beyond on how to prepare for the 2020-21 school year in the age of COVID-19. Goals include adapting buildings with proper ventilation, space management, and techno...

This special episode of Beyond the Skyline, features an Experts Forum on how to make solar energy work for commercial property. Solar energy: We’ve been hearing about it for decades, but sometimes it still seems like a fringe option, or else one of an array of renewable energy solutions. Finance & Commerce recently brought together (virtually, via Zoom) a group of local leaders in the solar busine...

Carter Nielsen’s dreams of competing as a wrestler in the 2020 Olympics suffered a massive takedown when the pandemic forced cancellation of the games. But the Minnesotan has since picked himself off the mat with help from another passion: real estate. Training for the Olympics is a full-time occupation, so when the pandemic struck Nielsen needed a Plan B — and a job. At a time when other employer...

The COVID-19 crisis was just heating up in April when LS Black Development was officially launched. Bad timing? Not necessarily, say founders Michael Hudson and William Boulay. LS Black Development, the development arm of St. Paul-based LS Black Constructors, has a strong focus on affordable housing — and the need for those homes isn’t going away. “Once [LS Black Constructors] had kind of that con...

Minnesota Statewide Limited Energy JATC, a nonprofit program that trains men and women to work in the burgeoning low-voltage energy industry, hardly missed a beat after the COVID-19 crisis brought much of the economy to its knees. The program has its main facility in Fridley, but it trains workers across the state. When the state closed schools in response to the crisis, Limited Energy quickly ada...

From perusing old-fashioned blueprints to dealing with the COVID-19 crisis, Mortenson Construction’s Rich Bistodeau has pretty much done it all on a construction site. Now, after nearly 50 years with the company, he’s calling it a career. Bistodeau joined Mortenson in 1972 as a carpenter apprentice and rose through the ranks to become a superintendent. During that time, he worked on projects that...

As managing principal of Leo A Daly’s Minneapolis office, Cindy McCleary has seen the impact of a bonding bill and what it means for the industry and the state as a whole. Leo A Daly’s project portfolio includes the Fort Snelling Visitor Center, the Second Harvest Heartland headquarters, and the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s facility. All were paid for with help from previous state bonding bi...

University of Minnesota professor and leading workplace expert Theresa Glomb has some advice for people working from home – and their employers -- amid the COVID-19 crisis. “I love the phrase, ‘Don't waste a crisis,’” says Glomb, a professor in the Carlson School of Management’s Department of Work and Organizations. “And I think this is very true here because we have an opportunity to really chang...

Dagmara Larsen brings a global perspective to the local design community, where she has made a name for herself as a mentor and a designer of award-winning libraries and other projects. Larsen earned her architecture degree in her native country of Poland. From there, she gained international experience before coming to the U.S. and landing a job with MSR Design in Minneapolis. She was promoted to...

There’s nothing like starting a new job in the middle of a global pandemic and then hitting the ground running with oversight of a game-changing, $1 billion-plus development at a former auto plant site. So it is for Maureen Michalski, who joined Minneapolis-based Ryan Cos. US Inc. in mid-March, just when the coronavirus crisis was heating up. As executive in charge of the Ford site redevelopment i...

As a construction lobbyist for the Associated Builders and Contractors of Minnesota and North Dakota, Adam Hanson is a familiar face at the Minnesota State Capitol. This spring, Hanson wrapped up his fifth legislative session as ABC’s director of government and public affairs. But before he went to bat for merit shop contractors, Hanson shadowed the likes of Joe Mauer and Torii Hunter as a batboy...

From legislative hearings to medical appointments, most everything it seems has gone virtual amid the COVID-19 pandemic – and building inspections are no exception. With inspectors in short supply because of COVID-19 and broader industry trends, contractors like St. Louis Park-based Knutson Construction are using such technology to meet their clients’ inspection needs. Knutson, for example, recent...

Enterprise Minnesota, a Minneapolis-based business consulting firm dedicated to helping small and mid-size manufactures compete and grow, bills itself as the voice of Minnesota’s manufacturing field. So it stands to reason that the organization’s CEO, Bob Kill, is to a great extent the name and face of the industry. A sought-after speaker and industry expert, Kill appeared at the June 10 National...

From the deadly Spanish flu pandemic to the current health crisis, the Meritex Co. has survived and thrived through more than 100 years of history. Harry McNeely, grandfather of the current chairman and CEO Paddy McNeely, founded the Minneapolis-based commercial real estate company with a single warehouse space in 1916 — just a year before the U.S. entered World War I and two years before the Span...

In Minnesota, travel and tourism generates more than $16 billion in gross sales, which is equivalent to more than $44 million every day. It also accounts for 11 percent of total private sector employment. Yet no sector has been hit worse during the COVID-19 pandemic than hospitality. Throughout the Minneapolis and St. Paul region, employment in this sector, which includes arts, entertainment, recr...

Anyone who has been out and about in the Twin Cities in the last couple of years can’t help but recognize Kris Lindahl, the local real estate agent whose beaming image has been omnipresent on billboards, buses and light rail cars. But Lindahl isn’t just another smiling face in the urban landscape. The founder and CEO of Twin Cities-based Kris Lindahl Real Estate is a marketable speaker, author and...

Maple Grove resident Laurie Karnes knows what to do when the tax man cometh. Karnes has more than 37 years of real estate experience and roughly $66 million worth of sales to her credit. But what she really likes to do these days is help other commercial property owners lower their tax bills. As owner of Land for Sale, Karnes works with property owners on tax appeals. Taking a deep dive into data...

When Brace Helgeson and Ryan Platzke each started out as real estate agents in Eden Prairie, their perspectives on the city were influenced by where they grew up. Helgeson, 59, got to Eden Prairie in 1985, a couple decades before the 37-year-old Platzke. Helgeson grew up in St. Cloud, which reminded him of Eden Prairie at the time. In that sense, he felt right at home, as the southwestern metro su...

It could be said that Minneapolis-based Hyde Development co-founder Paul Hyde’s career is a big detour from what he set out to be when he earned multiple law degrees in school. But it might be more accurate to say that his pursuit of learning the law set him on the path to his true calling. Hyde, who is 54 this year, started his work as a redeveloper of brownfields and other disused sites back in...

As the executive director of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance, Margaret Donahoe is a go-to source of information for all things related to investments in roads, bridges and transit systems throughout the state. Donahoe, who has a background in political science, has spent 20 years with the alliance, a statewide coalition of organizations advocating for “a safe and effective transportation sys...

Making a case that buses and trains are especially important during the public health crisis, a Twin Cities-based coalition of business, faith and environmental leaders says now is the time for robust investments in transit. The coalition – which includes leaders from Move Minnesota, East Metro Strong, Fresh Energy, ISAIAH, the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce and the Sierra Club Northstar Chapter – i...

As its name implies, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources maintains and supports everything from lakes and campsites to hatcheries and trails in the state. But that infrastructure includes a fair amount of brick and mortar – more than 2,800 buildings, to be specific. Many of those buildings are aging and in need of repairs. In fact, one in three of the agency’s buildings are 80 years old...

As Kraus-Anderson’s facilities assessment manager, Tim Kittila uses his engineering talents to help building owners make smart decisions related to everything from deferred maintenance to energy efficiency. In a nutshell, he helps owners get the most out of their facilities. Kraus-Anderson recently created his position to build upon its burgeoning facilities assessment services. Before joining Kra...

The need for more affordable housing in Minnesota is well documented. According to the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, Minnesota needs to add 300,000 more homes statewide by 2030, including at least 2,500 for those earning $30,000 or less. Unsheltered homelessness has increased 125% since 2015 and about 8,000 Minnesotans experience homelessness each night, the agency says. The COVID-19 pandemic...