"Retail in the Twin Cities isn't booming, contrary to what'sbeing reported," said Russ McGinty, SVP of Madison Marquette, atReal Estate Media's second annual RealShare Minneapolis this week,kicking off a panel discussion on the area's retail marketmoderated by Howard Paster, development manager of PasterEnterprises. "It isn't skyrocketing," he continued. "It's justhealthy, especially when compared to the office and industrialsectors, even with multifamily."

Retail growth is following rooftops, growth in the metro areathat McGinty characterizes as unique, "since it's going in everydirection. There are nice pockets of housing everywhere, so retailresponds to that. It's demand-driven, so it's healthy growth."

Robert Pounds, SVP at the Welsh Cos., told the roomful of areacommercial real estate professionals at the conference that "retailis strong here for a number of reasons. It's hard to even rememberthe last time there were double-digit vacancy rates in retail.Also, development is brisk, but it's controlled. Developers cancapture the rents they need to make the projects work, so it isn'tirrational development," he said.