Beyond the Skyline

In this week’s episode, F&C reporter J.D. Duggan talks to Greg Handberg, senior vice president of properties at Minneapolis-based Artspace, a nonprofit organization that does real estate development to create and restore places where artists can affordably live and work.

Handberg talks about navigating redevelopment on historic properties, garnering funds to make affordable housing work and how some of the Minneapolis private market has found this kind of redevelopment to be lucrative.

In this week’s episode, F&C reporter Brian Johnson talks to Katie King, a senior project manager with Adolfson & Peterson.

King, who has 24 years of experience in the construction industry, has overseen a wide range of projects from health care facilities to a school currently under construction in Oakdale.

In this interview, King talks about how she became interested in construction, her work with Adolfson & Peterson, and challenges and opportunities for women in construction.

On this week’s episode, F&C reporter J.D. Duggan talks to Libby Murphy, director of policy at Minnesota Housing Partnership, a nonprofit that has spent 30 years advocating for solutions to develop and preserve affordable housing.

In this conversation, Murphy discusses the projected $9.3 billion state budget surplus, bills that have been introduced in the Legislature so far and paths out of the affordable housing crisis.

In this week’s episode, Finance & Commerce reporter Brian Johnson talks to Margaret Donahoe, executive director of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance, a St. Paul-based coalition of contractors, engineers, local governments and others united in their desire for transportation investments.

With the legislative session underway, much is at stake. Most notably, Gov. Tim Walz’s $2.7 billion state bonding recommendation includes money for bridge replacements, local roads and regional bus corridors.

In the following interview, Donahoe talks about the legislative session, a proposed federal gas tax suspension, and the $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure bill, which offers billions of dollars for transportation upgrades in Minnesota.

Wafa Elkhalifa has been announced as the new equitable development coordinator for the Destination Medical Center in Rochester.

She has spent more than a decade in the banking industry in the city and plans to draw on those connections and skills for the new role. Elkhalifa has also been an advocate for Rochester’s Diversity Council and a diversity and inclusion specialist with the local school district.

In this interview with Finance & Commerce reporter J.D. Duggan, Elkhalifa says that this position combines her banking experience and her passion for improving equity, diversity and inclusion in Rochester.

Denise Mazone blazed a new trail for people of color in January when she was installed as 2022 president of the Minneapolis Area Realtors.

Mazone, owner and operator of Mazone Real Estate in Minneapolis, is the first African-American to hold that leadership position. But she’s confident that other people of color will follow in her steps.

In the following interview with Finance & Commerce reporter Brian Johnson, Mazone talks in depth about her equity goals, her own real estate path, the outlook for home sales in 2022 and more.

Interview: Brittany Faith McGaughey, COO, Minnesota Title by Finance & Commerce

As Mortenson’s director of real estate development in health care, Chantily Malibago has her finger on the pulse of the latest trends in health care design and construction.

Drawing in part from a new report from Mortenson, Malibago says the pandemic has informed health care design in a number of ways. Among those is a need for more flexible spaces for distancing and touchless designs, and quality respite areas for care providers.

Mortenson says it conducted the report to better understand how COVID-19 has affected health care providers. Released in December, the report is based on a survey of professionals at the 2021 American Society for Health Care Engineering’s Planning and Design Conference.

Among the biggest takeaways: Eight of 10 respondents said their facility investments in the next 12 to 18 months will be “at or above pre-pandemic levels,” according to the report.

In the following interview with Finance & Commerce reporter Brian Johnson, Malibago talks at length about the report and the future of health care design and construction. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Bell Bank executive Tony Weick has spent a quarter of a century in the mortgage business and he doesn’t plan to leave anytime soon.

A graduate of Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, Weick joined Bell in 2004. In 2013, after a stint as underwriting manager, he was named executive leader of Bell Bank Mortgage. Weick has twice been named to the “Minnesota 500” list of the state’s top business leaders, according to his company bio.

In his current role, Weick is responsible for overall residential mortgage functions at Bell, which has about $10 billion in assets and main offices in Fargo, Minneapolis and Phoenix. The mortgage division, he notes, is spread “across a larger swath of the country,” including the central U.S. and into the southeast.

Given his years of experience, Weick is a go-to source of information about industry trends. In the following interview with Finance & Commerce reporter Brian Johnson, he talks about what 2022 might have in store for interest rates, housing inventory, new home construction and more.

Twin Cities commercial real estate veteran Matt Alexander is taking on new challenges with a new job at the start of the new year.

Alexander recently joined Wayzata-based North Shore Development Partners and its affiliate, North Shore Contractors, as principal. Established in 2014, North Shore develops affordable and market-rate housing and mixed-use real estate in the metro area.

In his new role, Alexander will help oversee North Shore’s development strategy, investment opportunities, acquisitions and asset management. His areas of focus include mixed-use real estate developments, multifamily housing and single-family rentals.

Alexander joins North Shore partners David Juran and Todd Urness and Principal Katelyn Murray.

A member of the Minnesota Shopping Center Association and other industry groups, Alexander comes to North Shore from Kraus-Anderson, where he oversaw the development of the 100-acre CityPlace mixed-use development in Woodbury and other notable projects.

In the following interview, Alexander talks about his duties with North Shore, the future of single-family rentals in the Twin Cities, the outlook for multifamily construction and more.