Mpls Downtown Improvement District

When Kent Warden took over as executive director of the Greater Minneapolis chapter of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), the lobbying and education group was only half its current size and the biggest news in downtown Minneapolis was the groundbreaking of a new basketball arena called the Target Center.

For decades Warden and Bill Buth, longtime head of the St. Paul BOMA, provided a sense of stability and continuity in the two cities and offered a formidable one-two punch at the Capitol and elsewhere as they worked on commercial real estate issues.

Buth retired in 2007 after 33 years on the job, and now Warden, 68, has headed into retirement after 22 years. Succeeding him is Kevin Lewis of Meet Minneapolis, the group formerly known as Greater Minneapolis Convention & Visitors Association.

It was evident last week that Lewis will have some pretty big shoes to fill when the elite of the industry, as well as Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, turned out to honor Warden at a retirement party on the 50th floor of the IDS Tower. Speaker after speaker cited Warden's efforts to help downtown building owners promote their political agendas and build a cohesive community through the expansion of BOMA's education efforts.

"When you stop and think about the people who are institutions in downtown Minneapolis -- and who somehow manage not to get institutionalized -- Kent certainly is one," Rybak said while proclaiming Nov. 10 as "Kent Warden Day" in the city.

Even though Warden has been involved in controversial issues from light-rail transit to crime-fighting, "I can't think of a time when I thought he was out of bounds, or deceptive, or not straight," Rybak said. "To me, Kent has always been the quintessential Minnesotan in the very, very best sense of that word."'

He said the range of Warden's involvement in downtown's major events over the years -- from the rebuilding of the Nicollet Mall to the establishment of the nonprofit Downtown Improvement District -- was unequaled.

Warden gave BOMA a "sense of identity and direction," added Brian Burg, Minneapolis BOMA's current president and a vice president at Cushman & Wakefield/NorthMarq.

"[He has] a way of providing some overarching guidance and looking out for the best interests of the organization and its membership -- and that's his legacy," he said.

Warden has both fought and cooperated with state and local political leaders many times on taxes, building codes, quality-of-life issues and a host of other concerns.

Warden himself said even though he's going to spend a lot more time on his fishing boat in Naples, Fla., he will still always be connected to the fate of downtown Minneapolis.

His biggest accomplishment, he said, was being able to build BOMA into a "comprehensive advocacy group" for the commercial real estate industry. BOMA, founded in 1904, has grown its membership to 600.

Under his watch, BOMA has gone from tracking issues at the state level to presenting its members' cases to local governments as well, "not just in the city of Minneapolis, but also in some of the major suburban communities," he said.

"I think we've really broadened our reach and have dug a lot deeper on issues that are really important to commercial real estate. I'd say that's my proudest achievement -- we really have become an effective player on that front."

Politicians and government officials who are crafting policies that will affect building owners have come to expect BOMA to weigh in, and now will reach out to the group proactively, he said.

Source: Star Tribune