The highly structured fixed-rate transaction featured second mortgage rights, prepayment flexibility and substitution rights.

Milwaukee-based Grandbridge senior vice president Jim Cope and assistant vice president Brandon Strong arranged the 15-year refinance through one of the company’s insurance company relationships, Advantus Capital Management, Inc.

The March 16 conference will cover real estate, energy, oil, investment and economic development opportunities in the state of North Dakota.

“Any person who has any sort of interest in what is happening in North Dakota should attend this event,” said Jeff Johnson, general manager and group publisher of Minnesota Real Estate Journal. “There are so many opportunities available to them in North Dakota. Attendees will walk away from this conference with all the knowledge they need to make a better business decision.”

The conference will feature several important speakers, including Ed Schaefer, former governor of North Dakota and current board member of Continental Resources. Also speaking are Jack Ekstrom from the Whiting Petroleum Corporation; Mike Faldeland, North Dakota Chamber of Commerce; Tom Rolfstad, Williston; Kevin Cramer, North Dakota Public Service Commission; Scott Hennen, The Bakken Beacon; and several others.

Minnesota Real Estate Journal has applied for continuing education credits for real estate professionals, appraisers, legal professionals and financial planners. The publisher has applied for eight continuing education hours for real estate professionals, eight hours for appraisers, seven hours for legal professionals and eight hours of insurance credit for financial planners.

Johnson said that he expects a full-house at this all-day conference.

The event begins with registration at 7:15 a.m. at the Double Tree Hotel located at 7800 Normandale Blvd. in Bloomington, Minn. A hot breakfast will be served at 7:30 a.m., while lunch will be served at noon.

The speaker portion of the event begins at 8 a.m. with a look at North Dakota’s history, an examination of the types of businesses that call the state home and an in-depth exploration of the state’s economic drivers.

Other sessions focus on oil production in the Bakken, how oil has impacted North Dakota, economic development opportunities in the state and the capital markets opportunities that investors, developers and brokers can enjoy in North Dakota.

Attendees can qualify for the conference’s early bird rate of $179 through Feb. 24. After this period, tickets to the conference cost $199. Attendees who pay at the door on the day of the event will be charged $239.

“We have lined up an extremely impressive group of speakers for this event,” Johnson said. “We have energy consultants, a former governor, economic-development officials and a representative from Whiting Petroleum. We have the principals and the stakeholders who are the driving forces behind all the activity that is happening in North Dakota.”

To sign up for Minnesota Real Estate Journal’s Opportunities in North Dakota conference, click here.

Ulteig Engineers, which provides engineering, planning and surveying services to a wide range of public and private clients, currently occupies 30,000 square feet in the River Road Business Center in Fridley, Minn. Seeking a larger space, the company will be moving to Arden Hills Corporate Center IV in Arden Hills, Minn.

The 52,379-square-foot space is currently leased to FICO through June, and will be enhanced with the addition of a new 2,000-square-foot garage for the company’s vans and equipment.

Construction on the garage is slated to begin July 1, and Ulteig will move into the building Sept. 1.

“As a service provider it is imperative our business is never interrupted for our employees and customers,” said David Karels, chief business officer of Ulteig.  “Ulteig’s current location and lease will allow us to complete all the tenant improvements, including a state-of-the-art data center, which will allow a seamless move and virtually no business interruption.”

Kathy Marinac

Kathy Marinac recently joined Sherman Associates as a commercial real estate manager based in Duluth, Minn.

Marinac has worked in the commercial leasing and asset/property management business for more than 24 years. She most recently worked at Holappa Commercial Real Estate.

In her new role, Marinac will provide property management and leasing services for the Sherman Associates portfolio in Duluth. She will also work with out-of-state properties.

Scott Cordes, Josh Gabriel, Hunter Johnson and Ryan O’Rourke have all been promoted.

Cordes specializes in industrial sales/leasing, while Gabriel and Johnson both specialize in office sales/leasing. O’Rourke’s specialty is tenant representation for office, industrial and retail clients.

Beth Patterson

Beth Patterson recently joined Colliers International|Indiana Region as director of retail services. Patterson joined Colliers last year as a senior advisor.

“Beth brings strong leadership to our retail team,” said Sam Smith, principal and chairman of Colliers International|Indiana Region. “Her extensive background working for both retail developers and retailers will be invaluable to our retail services team and clients. She really understands what makes a good retail location and a good landlord, and she’s also very deal savvy.”

Patterson brings years of experience working with developers and tenants as the owner of her own commercial real estate firm, as the exclusive representative for Paul Kite Company and as a regional leasing manager for Kite Realty Group. She also possesses extensive experience managing shopping center leasing for new developments and existing centers, working with a wide range of national, regional and local clients.

Inland completed a 14,000-square-foot renovation/remodel of the building’s parking garage in January of this year. It also completed a 7,500-square-foot tenant improvement project for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra officies, also located in the Blatz Wash House.

This second project was also completed in January of this year.

Check out the video. It’s inspiring to see a company remain committed to a city, as Summit has with Indianapolis. As Summit officials say in the video, you can expect this company to remain in Indianapolis — at 241 N. Pennsylvania St. — for a long time.

“Dave has spent his entire career, more than 36 years, working to ensure the real estate finance industry is strong and vibrant,” said MBA chairman Michael Young. “His commitment to MBA over the years has been invaluable to our organization and, indeed, our entire industry. I am proud to call Dave a friend.”

Roberts serves on the Grandbridge Board of Managers. He also serves as president of the company’s proprietary lending subsidiary, BB&T Real Estate Funding LLC, which originates interim commercial real estate loans for its own portfolio.

Roberts also is the co-chairman of the association’s multi-family council, and is a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association Political Action Committee.

The numbers bear this out: According to the report, the suburban office vacancy in Lexington fell 1 percent in 2011, while office vacancies in the Central Business District dropped 1.16 percent.

The news was good on the retail side, too: According to the NAI Isaac report, retail vacancies fell 6.65 percent during 2011. And industrial saw the biggest decline in vacancies in the past year, a solid drop of 15.06 percent.

Lexington has been a fortunate market, though. It certainly suffered during the worst days of the Great Recession; I don’t know of any city that didn’t. But Lexington didn’t seem to suffer quite as much as many other Midwest markets. The Lexington commercial real estate professionals to whom I’ve spoken always point to the same factors: Lexington features a diverse employment base. It’s a fairly conservative market, meaning that it doesn’t suffer the high highs or the low lows that more volatile markets do. And Lexington boasts a solid, centralized location.

Add to this the fact that the city has managed to carve out a presence in the still-thriving healthcare market, and you understand why vacancies dropped last year in this city, even in the struggling office segment.