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.

The researchers at Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services predict that builders will deliver 1,865 rental units in 2012. That’s the highest this figure has stood in eight years. It also dwarves multi-family activity in 2011, when builders delivered 477 multi-family markets to the Minneapolis/St. Paul market.

The news is not all good, though. Marcus & Millichap is predicting that vacancies in the Twin Cities multi-family sector will rise 20 basis points in 2012 to 2.8 percent. The reason for this is fairly obvious: The number of new units delivered by builders will exceed a smaller increasein demand among Twin Cities consumers.

Don’t expect the rising vacancies, though, to hurt rents. According to Marcus & Millichap, operators should be able to raise asking rents 2.9 percent by the end of 2012 to $987 a month. Effective rents will see an even bigger increase, a predicted 4.5 percent to $956 a month.

This is all good news for the Twin Cities. Overall, Marcus & Millichap ranks Minneapolis/St. Paul as the 10th-best multi-family market in the country. That’s down a bit from 2011, when Marcus ranked the Twin Cites as the eighth-best such market, but it’s still a solid ranking. And it provides yet more evidence that the multi-family market here, and in most Midwest markets, remains the best commercial real estate bet out there.

Brixmor is the owner of White Bear Hills Shopping Center, and was represented by Matthew Johnson with Brixmor.

In 2011, Towle closed 56 loans with a transactional volume of more than $250 million. That comares to 31 loans totaling $142 million in 2010.

“Our 2011 transactions included a mixture of apartments, retail, industrial, office and medical office, student and senior housing projects. Our pipeline of transactions going into 2012 appears to be building as we see a continued improvement in commercial real estate,” said Mark Vannelli, president and principal with Towle Financial.

Illinois ranked third among all states when it came to the LEED-certified space it boasted per capita according to a study by the U.S. Green Building Council. Minnesota also performed well, ranking 10th among all states in this study.

Illinois had 2.69 square feet of LEED-certified space for every person to take home the third spot. Ranking ahead of Illinois was the District of Columbia, which 31.50 square feet of LEED-certified space for every person, and Colorado, with 2.74 square feet.

Minnesota — ranking in the top 10 for the second straight year — had 1.81 square feet of LEED-certified space for every person.

This is good news for the Midwest: It’s nice to see states not just talking about green building, but actually putting environmentally friendly techniques into place.

Holcomb will serve as a project manager.

“I am thrilled to have Ryan join our team. We’ve worked together in the past, and I’m confident he will be a tremendous asset as Opus continues to grow its local and regional market share,” said Manish Gandhi, senior project manager at the Indianapolis office of Opus Development Corporation. “Ryan is a perfect fit for our team, both intellectually and in his commitment to the community.”

Holcomb brings more than seven years of industry experience to Opus Development Corporation. Before joining Opus Development Corporation, Holcomb worked as a project manager at BE&K Building Group, where his responsibilities included subcontractor selection and bid phase management. Additionally, he has experience as a project engineer with Duke Realty Corporation and F.A. Wilhelm Construction. Holcomb adds extensive healthcare experience to the Indianapolis team, including more than $2.3 billion and 900,000 square feet in retrofits and new buildings for healthcare projects.

Marshalls has leased 25,931 square feet in the former site of Linens and Things, with construction already underway and an opening date targeted for Spring 2012.

Destination XL, a new concept by Casual Male stores, is leasing the top floor of the former Borders space (15,129 square feet). An opening date is also set for Spring of 2012, with construction yet to begin. The lower level remains available for a future tenant.

“Earlier this spring, CSM focused on increasing staff in leasing, construction and asset management,” said Paul Sevenich, the company’s vice president of leasing. “These latest developments are the positive results of that, and what we hope to be a positive sign for the industry.”

Matt Lucas

Wayzata, Minn.-based Steiner Development recently hired Matt Lucas as its vice president for development.

Lucas is now responsible for sourcing development business for the Steiner companies and real estate investments for the Steiner portfolio.

Prior to his new position, Lucas worked as development and leasing manager for CSM Corporation.

He is a graduate of Saint John’s University and holds a masters in business administration from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.