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Cirex News is emailed weekly to over 2,000 CRE Brokers/Agents and people interested in commercial real estate. Email Ralph or call 608-345-2880 to feature your business or properties in CirexNews...

Office markets are settling into a familiar but uneven rhythm. Recent data from Kastle Systems shows attendance peaking midweek at about 51% of pre-pandemic levels, then falling sharply to 29% by Friday in some major cities. While vacancy has started to ease slightly, helped in part by demand from AI firms, overall office usage remains well below historic norms and continues to weigh on downtown recoveries.

This midweek pattern is widespread, but performance varies significantly by region. Coastal markets tend to lag, while Sun Belt cities such as Austin are performing much better, with peak attendance nearing 93% and staying above 50% even on Fridays. Across markets, the buildings drawing workers back most consistently are high-end properties with strong amenities, where usage rates are meaningfully higher than the broader average...

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RSK: This trend was true even before the pandemic and work from home. But now, it is even more pronounced. At least people are going back to the office midweek.

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“At Investors Associated, we make it easy for brokers to match clients with well?managed, high?quality spaces. Our team prioritizes clear communication, quick turnaround times, and a seamless leasing experience. Partner with us to provide your clients with properties backed by dependable service and long?term value.”

Wisconsin voters will have a long list of issues on their minds when they fill out ballots in the fall, but one that is developing into a top concern is the data center boom.

“There’s so many issues affecting us as a country, but if we’re looking at it locally, I think that the data center is one of the biggest problems that we have right now, and creating regulations will be something that people should really look at,” said Trish Boehlke, a DeForest resident who joined others in her community to block such a development.

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RSK: The controversy goes on for data center locations. No pun intended but there must be some common ground here.

Ken Notes: As long as the power flows through Wisconsin, data centers will build here to tap into it. As a community you will need iron clad development agreements and and everything in writing. Also note, when you a building a multi billion dollar project electing a local official or two is not that difficult.

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The Madison Office Lifestyle Portfolio consists of 13 Class A, amenity-rich office properties ranging in size from approximately 25,000 square feet to over 300,000 square feet and is home to more than 130 tenants. The portfolio is located on the west side of Madison and Middleton, with the majority of properties situated in the Far West submarket.

Sierra Club: Vast majority of public comments to PSC oppose We Energies, Alliant Energy data center rate proposals

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RSK: It looks like the real objection to data centers has oiled down to who is going to pay for the increased rates for power......not environmental, although it is a factor.

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We offer the experience, quality and service you deserve, but with the personal attention and dedication that only a family business can provide. We’re not just your landlord, we’re partners in your success.

The life sciences real estate market is learning a lesson that has hit much of commercial property over the last few years. When capital is abundant and a growth story feels unstoppable, development can move faster than demand.

A new Savills report shows just how far that dynamic went in lab space. Nearly 60 million square feet of life sciences space was delivered between 2020 and 2025 across the 11 U.S. markets the firm tracks. Annual deliveries rose from roughly 4.5 million square feet in 2020 to 14.5 million square feet in 2025. Boston-Cambridge and the San Francisco Bay Area alone accounted for 58 percent of that total, underscoring how heavily the sector remains concentrated in its two dominant hubs.

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RSK: Velocity Station comes to mind. Every time I drive by that huge empty lot between the Beltline and Odana Rd, I wonder if some other project might be better suited.

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The United States has more than 3,000 operational data centers, and that number is expected to grow substantially in the years ahead. More than 1,500 new data centers are in various stages of development nationwide, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from Data Center Map...   ...Full Story Here

RSK: Most data centers before this spring were located in urban areas. Now, more are planned for rural areas.

May 14, 2026
3:30 PM
MESO


Please join us in May for a CBG Meeting,
Networking & Happy Hour hosted at MESO

?? MESO is located at 749 University Row, Suite 320, Madison, WI 53705

??  Please register by Tuesday May 6^th

The meeting schedule is:

3:30 Registration4 PM Presentation:  
MESO & Janesville Economic Development
4:45 Networking

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Responding to the structural shift in how businesses of all sizes use real estate, WeWork is expanding its integrated global platform as it continues to advance the workspace category

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RSK: Yes, work happens on the go and just about anywhere. But I'm not sure about these pods from WeWork.

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Since 1971, St. John Properties has designed, developed, and managed spaces that fit every type of business. Our team anticipates and serves the needs of over 2,700 clients, including small, mid-sized, and large companies, nationwide.

Owners contending with post-pandemic market dropping properties

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RSK: Some real deals going down....or are they?

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With over 350 experienced real estate professionals, Knight Barry provides exceptional support and service. Visit our website for more information about our 50+ commercial and residential offices throughout Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota.

MADISON: 2450 Rimrock Road, Suite 204, 608-255-2700
CAP SQUARE: 44 E. Mifflin Street, Suite 101, 608-255-2700

The forecast is “preliminary,” said grid officials, who may request changes to the analysis. It is based on ERCOT forecasting, as well as utilities working directly with large load customers.

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RSK: Utility usage and power grid were based on a 20year average and did not include the power draw from Data Centers, Now, centers are putting a load on the power grid.

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With the largest Real Estate Practice of any law firm in Wisconsin, Reinhart offers clients custom-tailored real estate insight.

The office is not what it used to be, and facilities managers are increasingly in the middle of that transformation. After years of compressed leases, space reductions, and the slow burn of return-to-office negotiations, the physical workplace is coming back into focus, not as the default container of work, but as a deliberate instrument of it. That shift is changing what facilities teams are responsible for, what they need to measure, and how quickly they are expected to adapt.

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RSK: This is a great shift in thinking about what the office means for employees and for the company itself. This may solve the problem between work from home and back to the office. Room for both.

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Self-storage has quietly become one of the most widely used real estate products in the country, with more than 12 percent of U.S. households renting space for overflow belongings. The sector continues to expand, fueled by life events like downsizing, relocation, and loss, as well as a lingering pandemic effect that reshaped how people use their homes. For many, these units hold more than excess items; they carry emotional weight, making it difficult to walk away even as costs rise.

At the same time, a growing number of cities are questioning whether storage facilities deserve such a prominent place in the built environment. Local officials argue that these buildings often consume valuable land while contributing little to street life, jobs, or housing supply. That tension has led to zoning restrictions, bans, and moratoriums in multiple markets, particularly in areas where land could support higher-impact uses. The friction is structural: customers want convenience and visibility, while planners want density and activity...

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RSK: I'd say that in our market it is about 50/50. But newer ones seem to have that facade to hide the actual storage units. I don't think self storage needs a highly visible location to be successful.

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Park Towne is a family run Madison-based real estate company serving southern Wisconsin for over 50 years. Led by second generation brothers Mike, Jim and Joe Ring, Park Towne has a portfolio of for-lease commercial properties and offers development, management and brokerage services.

Consumer sentiment has fallen as inflation and rising prices associated with the Iran conflict persist.

Preliminary April data from the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index shows that sentiment fell from 53.3 in March to 47.6 in April. This comes as consumers expect prices to rise at an annual rate of 4.8% over the next year and 3.4% over the next five to 10 years.

The economic pressures stemming from the conflict in Iran and uncertain access to the Strait of Hormuz, the recent main drivers in rising prices, aren't helping calm worries.

The consumer price index increased to a seasonally adjusted 0.9% last month, putting the annual inflation rate at 3.3%. The price of regular gasoline in the U.S rose 25%, from $2.91 in February to $3.64 in March, The New York Times reported.

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RSK: The Iran conflict has taken a toll on the consumer price index and shaken the consumer confidence. This means leases that are being signed are shorter and smaller.

RASCW Broker Summit 2026
Thursday, April 16, 2026
(9:00 AM - 3:30 PM) (CDT)

Get Ready for What’s Next. 

RASCW, in collaboration with NAR, is hosting a Broker Summit on Thursday, April 16—a high-impact, half-day conference designed specifically for brokers and team leaders preparing for the year ahead. 

This summit brings national insight directly to you. Join us for timely strategy, data-driven forecasts, and practical guidance led by:

•     Nykea Pippion McGriff, Vice President of Broker Engagement, NAR
•     Jessica Lautz, NAR Deputy Chief Economist
•     The RPR Team, sharing tools and intelligence to sharpen your business decisions
•     Plus additional expert voices and peer discussion ...

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Setting a budget is one of the most important steps in a successful commercial construction project.

For owners who don’t work in construction every day, it can also be one of the most challenging. A realistic budget helps guide decisions, align the project team and reduce surprises along the way. It’s the framework for how a project moves forward.

Start with clear project goals

Before discussing costs, design or finishes, it’s important to define what success looks like for your project. Consider your current needs and long-term goals, how your business may evolve over time and how the space can adapt with you. Identifying where quality is essential and where flexibility exists helps inform smarter decisions...

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RSK: An advertorial but some good advice from Ideal Builders...

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RSK: A good wrap up on how the Iran Conflict is affecting CRE.

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When AI tools started becoming genuinely capable a few years ago, one of the first questions the commercial real estate industry asked was what it would do to office demand. The answers that came back were not encouraging for landlords. If AI could handle research, drafting, analysis, and synthesis, the argument went, then the fundamental reason people needed to be together in an office, to share information, to think through problems collectively, to learn from one another, would erode. Why commute to collaborate when a language model could synthesize the collective intelligence of your entire organization and serve it to you at your desk at home? The dystopian version of that future featured rows of individual workers, each in their own environment, each interfacing primarily with AI rather than with each other. The office, in that scenario, was a relic waiting to be rationalized.

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RSK: If this is true then there will be more people going back to the office since Ai is only going to grow.

	The Gialamas Company, Inc.	RFA Asset Management Madison, WI	Key Commercial Real Estate, LLC
Madison Commercial Real Estate LLC	St. John Properties	IA Management, LLC	Wisconsin Commercial Real Estate
Park Towne Realty LLC	Mullins Group, LLC	Crown Commercial	Flad Development & Investment Corp.
Evans Properties, LLC	Keller Real Estate Group		MIG Commercial Real Estate, LLC
First Weber Group, Inc - West Towne	Opitz Realty, Inc.	First Weber Group, Inc - Prairie Du Sac	Peterson Management Company Inc.
The Lenhart Company, Inc	Scott Faust & Associates	Shamrock Real Estate Services, LLC	Targa, Inc
Executive Management, Inc	Stark Commercial - East	Urban Land Interests	Slinde Realty Company
Assist-2-Sell/Pohlkamp & Associates	Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Matson Real Estate	Artisan Graham Real Estate

Hovde & Hovde, Inc

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