A new report says the Twin Cities metro has the nation’s highest commercial property distress rate, raising new questions about the impact on metro homeowners.
New commercial real estate data from CRED iQ shows the Twin Cities has the highest distressed property rate of any U.S. metro, naming Minneapolis, St. Paul and Bloomington. In Bloomington, City Assessor Tim Bulger said the city does not have the same commercial real estate problems as Minneapolis or St. Paul.
Growth does appear to be stagnant right now though.
For resident John Heutmaker, attention is now on Bloomington City Hall ahead of the city’s next budget steps.
“What I hope happens is that they understand, that they are overburdening all of the residents in the city of Bloomington and they have been for years,” John Heutmaker said.
Commercial properties in Bloomington appear to be struggling for two reasons. Vacancy rates sit between 15% to more than 20 percent, and commercial property valuations are being outpaced by the value of residential homes.
“So our city council and city leaders look into this every year when they set the levy,” Tim Bulger said.
“So yeah as you mentioned, residential went up so you would anticipate a slightly higher tax bill on the residential properties compared to the commercial properties but only time will tell on that,” Bulger said.
When asked if the city of Bloomington estimates if stagnant property values could impact taxpayers, the city said, “We would not expect a significant shift toward single-family residential property.”
Bloomington will set their preliminary budget on September 14th. In the last two years residents have seen increases of 6.96% and 9.18%.