The MAR Board of Directors has an exciting update to share with our members:
Our association has long been in our office building in Edina. However, as the work world evolves, the commercial real estate market for office space shifts—and our building is at the age where maintenance and repair costs are growing. Our physical space is an important part of our member experience, and we needed to take the time to reevaluate if owning our building was the best way to steward the assets of the association to the highest and best use for our members.
So on September 11, our Board of Directors voted unanimously to search for a new association office space, and sell our current office building in Edina.
To come to this decision, a task force of the board and the management team spent the summer working with outside commercial real estate experts, Rokos Advisors, to run a financial and feasibility analysis. Key rationale included:
- Good stewardship of the association’s assets – current building operations and maintenance costs are significantly higher than long-term leasing in a more user-friendly space. While MAR has a strong level of operating reserves to help with maintenance needs, the analysis showed that remaining an owner-operator would require larger investments in the years to come, making it a less sustainable business model.
- Creating member value – Cost was just one side of the equation; this decision was also made to ensure that 1) we can keep our membership dues and fees at manageable levels while 2) having the funds needed to invest in greater programming and tools to better serve our members.
- Flexibility for our future – Like many of our broker members, post-COVID we have re-evaluated our space needs. We remain committed to in-person classes, events, and member service, but want to gain things like increased parking space, shared large meeting rooms, and other amenities, in a financially sustainable way.
Thank you to our Building Decision Task Force:
- 2024 & 2025 Executive Committee Members – Frank D’Angelo (Chair), Jackie Berry, Aarica Coleman, Jamar Hardy, Jerry Moscowitz
- 2024 & 2025 Board Directors – Mike Hoffman (Past President), Matt Wandzel (Vice Chair, Finance)
- Building & Grounds Taskforce Chair – Kath Hammerseng (Past President)
- Finance Committee – William Huffman (Treasurer & Chair), Linda Johnson (2024 Treasurer), Matt Baker
When and where we will move is still unknown, and we will continue to office at our building at 5750 Lincoln Drive for the time being. As the focus of this task force was only to decide to move or renovate, now we can start in earnest to work with Rokos to sell our office and search for our new space.
While there’s much work ahead, we’re proud to take this important step together with you for our 138-year-old association as we shepherd it into the future. We look forward to sharing an update when we have more of the where and when answered. In the meantime, thank you for your patience and for being a MAR member!
Carrie Chang, MAR CEO
Frank D’Angelo, 2025 MAR President