Bank takes over resort

Wells Fargo has taken ownership of a large resort in northern Minnesota and recently hired a Twin Cities commercial brokerage firm to market the property.

The local office of CB Richard Ellis is listing Big Sandy Lodge & Resort, a 30-acre property in McGregor, about 50 miles north of Brainerd, for $4.5 million. A marketing brochure prepared by CBRE says the property includes 57 separate properties, including townhouses, cabins, log-home lots and vacant land. There's also a lodge with 18 guest rooms, two restaurants and an indoor pool.

The property overlooks Big Sandy Lake and most recently was owned by a group of Twin Cities investors. They bought it in 2001 from the original owner who had called the resort Kare Phree Pines. The original amount of the group's mortgage was $13.2 million, according to the Aitkin County Recorder's Office. About $6.7 million was still owed when Wells Fargo foreclosed on the property earlier this year, buying it at a sheriff's sale for $4.1 million, the recorder's office said. Wells Fargo declined to comment.

SpaceNet Equities of Golden Valley recently secured a new large tenant for the Bremer Bank building at 8800 Hwy. 7 in St. Louis Park. Community Action Partnership of Suburban Hennepin will move in next April, occupying 8,370 square feet on a seven-year lease.

SpaceNet represented both Community Action and building owner Brinker Properties in the transaction.

The new lease boosts occupancy of the 51,577-square-foot building to 81 percent. Bremer is the anchor tenant, occupying the entire first floor. The building also houses several small professional services firms.

Community Action is an agency that offers a variety of services for low-income residents of suburban Hennepin County, including energy assistance programs, home ownership services, employment counseling and financial counseling.

A tight credit market and weak economy continue to hamper commercial construction projects here and across the nation.

The latest figures from Chicago-based McGraw-Hill Construction, a widely read barometer of industry conditions, show a 25 percent decline in the dollar value of nonresidential construction in Minnesota through the end of October compared with the same period in 2008. The decline for the Twin Cities area was even more substantial -- 50 percent from the same period last year.

The value of nonresidential construction nationwide was down 10.5 percent through the end of October compared with the same period in 2008, according to figures compiled by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Increases in construction spending in the transportation, public safety and conservation sectors weren't enough to offset large declines in spending on lodging, office and industrial building projects.

Susan Feyder • 612-673-1723