Dan Mueller

Director of development for Ryan Cos. US Inc.

After four years as an office and industrial broker, Dan Mueller, 26, has moved into commercial real estate development as director of development for the Minneapolis office of Ryan Cos. US Inc. He will oversee site selection, land acquisition, due diligence and municipal approvals.

Ryan's most recent industrial developments include the $60 million office/production build-to-suit facility in Shakopee for San Francisco-based Shutterfly, the Internet-based photo and publishing company. Located off Hwy. 169, the 217,000-square-foot facility will open this summer and employ up to 1,000 people. Ryan also broke ground on a new $30 million headquarters for medical device manufacturer Cardiovascular Systems Inc., at Interstates 694 and 35W in New Brighton. That 125,000-square-foot facility will include office, research and development, and manufacturing space and is expected to be completed in March 2015.

Mueller, a St. Cloud native, most recently worked for Houston-based Transwestern's Minneapolis office, where he focused on tenant and landlord representation for leasing and sales.

Q: What does your new job entail?

A: I will be doing the behind-the-scenes execution of Ryan's development deals, working alongside Casey Hankinson, who's vice president of development for industrial product and corporate build-to-suits. He really just has a lot on his plate and could use someone to help out with the execution of the deals.

Q: With the Shutterfly project nearing completion, will you focus primarily on Cardiovascular Systems' new development?

A: Yes. That will be essentially just tracking to make sure the construction progress is going well and we're meeting what we promised.

Q: Has industrial development come back?

A: It's definitely picking up. There's a lot of speculative development in the northwest submarket. And obviously, there's development in the south [part of the Twin Cities], the Shakopee, Chanhassen and Lakeville areas. I think it's a function of the economy getting back on track and some of the manufacturing coming home.

Q: Are you pursuing other developments in the Twin Cities?

A: We're looking at land sites and working with tenants out in the market; those are the two main sources of opportunity that we're chasing.

Q: What are the biggest challenges you face in your new position?

A: The complexity. I'm more used to running through fairly generic leasing deals and these are much more involved. When it's a 100,000-square-foot-plus building, there are a lot more stakeholders involved.

Liz Wolf is an Eagan-based freelance writer. She can be reached at wolfliz99@aol.com.