A dedicated team with almost 60 years of combined experience, Kenwood Commercial helps landlords and tenants get the best deals possible. With services ranging from landlord representation and tenant services to investment real estate, they have the market covered. And, they handle everything from small retail shops to large corporate buildings.
“In a boutique shop like Kenwood, we all have different specialties from international trade to retail to office, so we all look at things in a different way and from a different mindset,” says Mike Doyle, one of the three founders. “We can bounce challenges off each other and come up with creative ways to work through things. And having three very senior qualified people come together helps all of us.”
Doyle, along with the other founders, Michael Brehm and Nils Snyder, have known each other for 14 years and have previously worked as a team at a global commercial real estate firm. After many successful years with the company, they decided to go out on their own and focus exclusively on the Twin Cities and surrounding areas. Kenwood Commercial opened for business in 2019.
When looking for a commercial broker, Snyder says it’s important to find someone who listens, understands the business, and offers solutions for its unique requirements. “Every transaction is different and each solution needs to be custom made. We strongly recommend looking at a broker’s experience, their understanding of the market conditions, and an ability to make a connection.”
Snyder focuses on leasing major office projects, as well as tenant representation assignments, while Brehm specializes in leasing and sales services for tenants; Doyle works with owners and occupiers of commercial real estate.
All three are Certified Commercial Investment Members (CCIM), which denotes a recognized expert in the disciplines of commercial and investment real estate, and also belong to the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR), an international professional commercial and industrial real estate association.
“There are a lot of qualified brokers in the market, but the biggest thing is to make sure the person focuses exclusively on commercial to really understand what’s happening,” says Doyle. “Pretty much every client we’ve worked with has come back with favorable results at the end of the day and is happy with our services.”
“All we have is our honesty and integrity,” says Snyder. “Hopefully, our reputation precedes us. We have a long track record of providing proven results. While we can’t make the market, we work extremely hard to help clients understand the market and how to adapt to its ever changing variables.”
Of course, with COVID-19, the commercial market has been turned upside down. Many retail stores closed, and office workers started working out of their homes.
“COVID upended office space as we know it today,” says Doyle. “It had definitely slowed down a lot, but we’re seeing it pick up again right now. We’re seeing companies becoming more comfortable with having some sort of office environment. People say it will never be the same, but at the same time, the idea of having a place where people can get together and work together is very important to companies going forward.”
However, the space itself is changing and they say there’s not a one size fits all solution. More money and thought is going into spaces so colleagues are not sitting right next to each other and are able to gather in a more open environment.
“We’re definitely seeing a draw more towards suburban offices right now,” says Brehm. “We’re also seeing a lot of shorter-term leases. So instead of the usual seven to 10 years, it’s now three to five. That is to create the flexibility to navigate through these uncharted territories.”
Tenants also have different concerns than they did pre-COVID. “Business owners spend more time asking questions about cleanliness and safety,” says Doyle. “People are now more interested in the heating and cooling elements in the building and how the air is purified.” They may also prefer office space that they can easily walk into instead of having to get into an elevator.
“In addition, when assisting tenants, it’s not just about looking at the brick and mortar of the building,” says Brehm. “It’s things like ‘Who is the landlord? Do they have a reliable property management team in place? Does the building have good amenities that your employees are going to like?’ We’ll also go into depth in order to know if the asset is well financed and what the capital structure looks like: Is it healthy, or is there a loan coming due? We’ve had a few that you can only know if you’re totally focused and local.”
To learn more about the team of Kenwood Commercial, and how they can help you as a landlord or business owner, go to https://www.kenwoodcommercial.com/ (952) 212-0757. 1516 W Lake Street in the Citadel building.
