St. Paul commercial vacancy rates turning around in right direction

St. Paul businesses rebounding: Report

A new report shows signs of revival in the downtown St. Paul real estate market as the city?s central business district?s post-pandemic recovery has been sluggish. FOX 9?s Soyoung Kim breaks down what this could mean for the future of Minnesota?s capital city.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - The Greater Saint Paul Building Owners and Managers Association’s (BOMA) 2025 Market Report was released Tuesday, and the president of the organization said vacancy trends are moving in the right direction.

Building momentum

The backstory:

The Greater Saint Paul BOMA has been tracking the roughly 14 million square feet of downtown St. Paul’s office inventory for decades.

The organization said downtown St. Paul’s core is still reeling from impacts left behind during the pandemic and shifting office culture.

"St. Paul is not yet recovered, but it is recovering and we’re seeing that stabilization is really noticeable," said Tina Gassman, Greater Saint Paul BOMA president.

Timeline:

The latest BOMA report notes that in 2020, the vacancy rate was roughly 18%.

Last year, the association said vacancy peaked at over 32%. This year, the report found the overall vacancy rate for competitive office space has improved to around 31%.

What they're saying:

The association president said this is a meaningful shift for St. Paul’s downtown core.

"It is in a state of transition, and it is well-poised for revitalization. Really what I’m seeing is that coming out of the pandemic, there is some stabilization and that really there are private and public partnerships in place to have everyone rowing in the same direction," said Gassman.

Dig deeper:

BOMA leaders said a big part of the challenge is the over 1 million square feet of office space left vacant by Madison Equities.