On the front lines of the commercial real estate crisis
|
Ron Touchette, president of Rock Solid Companies, is working to get new owners for these office condos at Heatherton Ridge in Savage.
It's 3:30 p.m. on a Friday after a heavy rain. Ron Touchette briskly inspects Heatherton Ridge, a nicely landscaped new office park in Savage, checking for leaks and picking up trash.
Though it may not look like it, more than half of Heatherton Ridge's 20 office condos are in some stage of foreclosure with local banks and some sit empty. Three are still unfinished inside. Several community banks that are trying to sell the offices have hired Touchette, a real estate agent who runs Maple Grove-based Rock Solid Companies. Touchette's business is handling what's politely called in the industry distressed, troubled or "special" assets.
And business is booming. Specialists in the distressed assets real estate niche are gearing up for the sort of glut in commercial real estate that has plagued residential housing for several years. Large brokerages such as Coldwell Banker Commercial Griffin Companies in Minneapolis and Welsh Companies are beefing up their special-assets divisions.
