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Sweet marketing music

Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?

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by Beth Ewen
April 2004

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Real estate

Owners snap up industrial
property, including newer
condo’ option, United says

Business owners who use the space they buy (as opposed to investors who don’t occupy it) purchased more than 3 million square feet of industrial space in the Twin Cities in 2003, similar to the amount in 2002 but a major uptick from the years before that.

Pete Rand, who specializes in industrial property for United Properties in Bloomington, says low interest rates are driving the purchases, as is the desire for small-business owners to control their real estate destiny. The purchase by users was “also active in ’02 but negligible before that,” he says.

A newly popular use for property zoned industrial is the business “condo,” he says, or a townhome-style office and showroom with a separate entrance, individual identification and perhaps a loading dock in the back. Dental practices, for example, and other service businesses are paying a premium for the category.

Rand believes that similar buying activity will continue as long as interest rates remain low. Companies in the fulfillment, packaging, transportation/logistics, medical technology and pharmaceutical industries are the “early leaders” in turning to the market for additional industrial space in 2004.

Pete Rand, United Properties: 952.837.8585; prand@uproperties.com