Twin Cities State of the Market

Matt Majka (pronounced MAY-kuh) is in his ninth season as Chief Operating Officer for Minnesota Sports and Entertainment (MSE) and 20th year with the organization. He previously held the positions of Executive Vice President, Senior Vice President of Business Operations and Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Sponsorships. MSE is a regional sports and entertainment leader that has grown into several different business operations including the Minnesota Wild, its minor league affiliate, the Iowa Wild, 317 on Rice Park and the facility management of Xcel Energy Center and Saint Paul RiverCentre. During his tenure with the Wild, Majka has been instrumental in fostering the unique relationship between the hockey club and its fan base. The team’s continued dedication to the fans of the “State of Hockey” is reflected in ESPN The Magazine’s Ultimate Standings as the Wild was named the “Best Stadium Experience” in the National Hockey League from 2007-10. Minnesota ranked first in the NHL and sixth overall for “Stadium Experience” in the field of all 122 major league sports franchises in 2012.  Majka joined the Minnesota Wild in October of 1997 from Rollerblade, Inc., where he started work in 1984. Beginning as a Sales Representative for the fledgling company, he held positions of increasing responsibility through his 13-year tenure including: Sales Representative, Regional Sales Manager, Marketing Manager, Director of International Business, Senior Director of Product Marketing and culminating with his appointment as Vice President of Product Marketing. During his tenure, the privately held company grew revenues from $1 million to more than $200 million annually. The Detroit, Mich., native has lived in the Twin Cities for more than 45 years and is a 1984 speech communications graduate of the University of Minnesota. Majka currently serves on the Foundation Board of Children’s Minnesota, The Ordway Center for Performing Arts, the United States Hockey Hall of Fame, and the BEL13VE in Miracles Foundation. He and his wife, Kym, have two sons, Sam and Nick. The family resides in Medina.

Brent Erickson began his career in commercial real estate in 1989 when he joined Cushman & Wakefield/NorthMarq as a property manager. Since 1996, he has been involved in brokerage services, acquisitions and dispositions of real estate, re-branding and renovation projects, with a long-term focus on leasing and brokerage services in the downtown Minneapolis market. He has been a part of multiple instances of re-branding buildings with a new identity that is directed towards demand trends for the central business district. Mr. Erickson’s clients for landlord representation have included institutional investors such as Principal Real Estate Investors, Piedmont Office Realty Trust, KBS Realty Advisors, Goldman Sachs, City Center Realty Partners, Angelo Gordon, United Properties, Teachers Insurance and Annuity, The Travelers Insurance Company, the St. Paul Port Authority, American Realty Advisors and Cornerstone Real Estate Advisors, as well as a variety of individual investors. He has also been involved with tenant representation assignments, including Windsor Financial Services, Briggs and Morgan, Best & Flanagan, Lindquist & Vennum, Foley & Mansfield, Marquette Financial Services, and Hamre, Schuman Mueller & Larson. The scope of experience that Mr. Erickson has in commercial real estate has enabled him to be extremely insightful to his clients. His understanding of the various components necessary to successfully complete transactions, while incorporating prevailing market trends is an integral element to navigating the Minneapolis CBD office market. The former president of the board of directors for a large non-profit childcare center, Mr. Erickson volunteers for the Children’s Cancer Research Fund. He is also involved with the Minneapolis Downtown Council and has been a speaker for industry groups including BOMA, NAIOP, and MNCAR. Mr. Erickson has a degree in education from Gustavus Adolphus College.

An inspirational visionary, Kelly Doran is a leader in all aspects of the Doran family of businesses with an emphasis on new development projects. Doran Companies is fundamentally a development company that capitalizes on its vertically integrated development, design, construction and asset management teams to yield highly positive returns for ourselves, our partners and our clients. As founder and leader, he has used his 30 years of experience developing six million sq. ft. of commercial properties to firmly establish Doran Companies as a trendsetting developer in this market. Selected as a member of the Minnesota Shopping Center Association Hall of Fame, Kelly is a University of Minnesota graduate and holds a MBA from the Carlson School of Business.

Ed is DLR Group’s North Central Hospitality Sector Leader and the firm's expert for hospitality, gaming and entertainment design. He empowers teams to develop design solutions that maintain over time. Ed understands the importance of engaging stakeholders in a highly collaborative design process to produce captivating spaces that enhance the guest experience and build brand loyalty. His strong leadership and guidance creates an open and effective project team to accomplish the clients’ vision. Ed is instrumental in DLR Group's ongoing design for expansion and renovations at the Mall of America including the JW Marriott Bloomington. He works closely with Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Starwood and boutique brands.

Mike Sims has 30 years of experience in the areas of retail tenant representation, shopping center development, excess property disposition, project leasing, land sales and assemblage. Over the course of his career, Sims has completed over 900 transactions totaling more than 20 million square feet of space. Prior to founding Mid-America Real Estate - Minnesota, LLC in 2008, Mr. Sims worked for United Properties in Bloomington, Minnesota, as a vice president and consistent top producer, where he focused on tenant representation, new business development, leasing and land sales throughout the upper Midwest. Mr. Sims embarked on his real estate career in the mid-eighties in Arizona, working for a land brokerage company. Upon his return to Minneapolis, he worked with a local real estate company as a preferred developer for a national retailer. Mr. Sims has provided commercial real estate services to a variety of local and national tenants. A partial list of retail clients he has worked with include: Walmart, Sam’s Club, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Nordstrom Rack, Giordano’s, Michael’s, Aspen Dental, CVS and Sprint. Development clients include Ryan Companies, Opus and Gatlin Development Company. Mr. Sims earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Minnesota. He is active in the International Council of Shopping Centers and the Minnesota Shopping Center Association, where he served as president in 2004 and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2014. In addition, he has received the MNCAR Retail Transaction of the Year Award in 2012, 2013 and 2016. Mr. Sims also served as president of The Caring Tree, a non-profit organization that provides school supplies for kids in need, from 2007 to 2009.

Bill Griffith is a shareholder for Larkin Hoffman in the firm’s real estate and land use practice group. He practices extensively in land use, zoning, real estate, environmental permitting and municipal law. Bill has served as legal counsel to Mall of America for more than 20 years and also serves as city attorney for the city of Columbus. In addition to his practice, he has been an adjunct professor in land use law at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. Bill has published articles and guest commentary in Urban Land, Minnesota Business, Minneapolis Star Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Minnesota Real Estate Journal, and is a frequent speaker at seminars on land use, zoning, municipal and environmental law.

Collin Barr serves as the President of the North Region of Ryan Companies, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His North Region business unit is currently delivering about $400 million per year in new commercial development and construction projects where 420 people provide services to Ryan customers in the areas of development, architecture & engineering, construction, property management, and real estate capital. Ryan Companies provides integrated commercial property solutions to customers across the United States and Canada. Collin Barr has worked in the commercial development & construction arena for 29 years functioning in various leadership and development capacities. Before joining Ryan Companies in 1997, Barr worked at Caribou Coffee Company as vice president of store development, at Trammell Crow Company in office development, and with IBM Corporation as a marketing executive. He is the immediate past Board Chairman for the Minneapolis Downtown Council, and is a Board Member of The Itasca Project in Minnesota, the NAIOP National Research Foundation, Bethel University Board of Governors, and Urban Homeworks. Barr received an MBA from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and holds a BA from Bethel University in St. Paul, MN. Ryan Companies offerings include services from the disciplines of development, architecture and engineering, property management, and capital markets. Ryan serves 10 market sectors in the US and Canada including Healthcare, Retail, Office, Industrial, Senior Living, Multifamily, Hospitality, Higher Education, Student Housing and Public Sector/Gov’t. Ryan operates out of 8 Regions and 13 offices throughout the United States which produced an annual volume of $1.4 billion in 2016. Over the past decade, Ryan has completed more than 800 projects in 120 cities and 40 states and provinces.

Matt Rauenhorst leads the Minneapolis development team for Opus Development Company, L.L.C., as vice president, real estate development, focused on collaborating with stakeholders to deliver positive outcomes for clients and communities through strategic development projects. Over his career, Matt has developed over 2.25 mil square feet of retail, office and industrial space, and over 2,000 residential units, with many projects right here in Minnesota, and many others throughout the Midwest. Not only is Matt’s work award winning, recognized with multiple MSCA Starr Awards, he’s leading the way for community revitalization, with one project recently cited as “among Saint Paul’s most visible redevelopment initiatives” positioning Opus as “one of the most active developers in the region”. He’s a member of NAIOP, the commercial real estate development association, the Minnesota Commercial Association of Realtors, and frequently sought out for various industry panels and media thought leadership. An active philanthropist, he supports organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters, AmeriCorps, Habitat for Humanity, Camp Fire Minnesota, and the GHR Foundation. Leveraging his 13 years of real estate and development experience, combined with his undergraduate degree in entrepreneurship and MBA in commercial real estate, Matt Rauenhorst is creating new multifamily, industrial, office and retail development opportunities, and building community, across the country.

Jim Damiani, CCIM, SIOR, is a tenant advisory office specialist in Newmark Knight Frank's Minneapolis-St. Paul office and a designated broker for Minnesota brokerage operations. An established industry leader, Mr. Damiani is among the most successful and widely recognized market leaders in the Minneapolis commercial real estate market. Mr. Damiani teams with Ryan Bohrer, Andrew Commers and Maura Carland to provide their clients with the very best financial and employee solutions. The team has more than 70 years of experience, specializing in tenant/buyer representation for local and national firms in Minneapolis-St. Paul and its surrounding suburbs. The team gets to know each of its clients and understand their wants and needs before tailoring plans for them using a methodical yet nimble approach, all while building rapport and trust. Prior to joining NKF in 2017, Mr. Damiani was a senior vice president at Colliers International, where he was a 16-time Office Salesperson of the Year. His numerous industry recognitions also include Minnesota Commercial Association of Realtors (MNCAR) Broker of the Year and Volunteer of the Year, CoStar Power Broker, Minneapolis Business Journal 40 Under 40 Winner and many more. Additionally, Mr. Damiani is the former chairperson of the City of New Hope Planning Commission and is a frequent speaker/moderator for numerous industry organizations including MNCAR, NAIOP, CCIM, SIOR, Bisnow and Building Owners and Managers Association International (BOMA).