Wright County Commercial Real Estate Market Update — September 2026
Buffalo | Monticello | St. Michael | Albertville | Otsego | Delano | Annandale and surrounding Wright County communities
September has not brought a dramatic change in direction for Wright County commercial real estate, but the market continues to get more specific.
There are currently around 48 publicly listed commercial properties for lease across the county, compared with roughly 46 last month. On the sale side, inventory is holding around 63 properties.
That tells part of the story.
What matters more in the day-to-day market is how quickly those options disappear once a business starts adding requirements: the right square footage, an overhead door, three-phase power, visibility, parking, highway access or a specific city.
There may be 48 properties available on paper. There are rarely 48 realistic choices for an actual tenant.
That continues to be the defining feature of the Wright County market heading into fall.
Where the Leasing Market Stands
Public lease inventory has ticked up slightly since August, but I would not call that a meaningful increase in tenant leverage across the board.
Current public inventory includes roughly:
19 office availabilities
16 industrial/flex availabilities
15 retail availabilities
There is overlap between categories, particularly with mixed-use properties, so those numbers should not be added together.
The bigger distinction is between available space and usable space.
Office tenants still have choices.
A retailer looking for generic second-generation space can usually find several possibilities.
But a contractor looking for 2,500 to 4,000 square feet with an overhead door, adequate power and parking can run through the obvious options very quickly.
That is why I continue to view each property type as its own market rather than relying too heavily on countywide vacancy or asking-rate averages.
Industrial and Flex: Small-Bay Space Remains the Sweet Spot
Industrial and flex is still where I see the strongest imbalance between what businesses want and what is readily available.
There are approximately 16 publicly marketed industrial availabilities right now, but they range from a 1,000-square-foot bay to future industrial projects offering hundreds of thousands of square feet.
Those are completely different markets.
For the typical Wright County contractor, trades business, light manufacturer or growing local company, the sweet spot is often somewhere around 1,500 to 5,000 square feet.
The recurring wish list is pretty simple:
One or more overhead doors
Functional power
A modest office component
Enough parking for employees and work vehicles
Reasonable access to Highway 55, Highway 12, Highway 25 or I-94
Current asking rents also show why size matters. Larger Monticello industrial space is being marketed below $8/SF, while Waverly and Delano options are around $10/SF. Smaller or particularly well-located spaces can command considerably more.
I would be careful about applying one “industrial market rent” to all of those buildings.
For owners: if you have a clean 2,000- to 5,000-square-foot shop with good doors, usable power and convenient access, I would not assume a short vacancy automatically means your asking rent is too high.
Sometimes the bigger issue is simply getting the property in front of the relatively small group of businesses looking for that exact setup.
New to Market: 121 Myrtle Ave S, Annandale
Fortify Commercial recently brought 121 Myrtle Ave S in Annandale to market for sale or lease.
The approximately 2,670 SF industrial/flex building offers a drive-through layout, multiple grade-level doors, in-floor heat, office space, and convenient access to Highway 55.
For Sale: $350,000
For Lease: $2,800/month plus utilities
Lease-to-own: Available
For a contractor, service business, workshop, or owner-user, this is the type of smaller industrial property that remains relatively hard to find in Wright County.
Fortify Commercial is representing the property.
View the full listing
Retail: Visibility Is Often More Important Than a Small Rent Reduction
There are currently around 15 publicly marketed retail availabilities across Wright County. Current asking rents range widely, but there is a clear divide between older second-generation space and newer, high-visibility product.
Current examples include older Monticello retail around $14/SF, downtown Buffalo around $18/SF, and newer Albertville and Monticello product around $23/SF.
What I find more useful than the rate range is looking at which buildings make an easy case to a tenant.
The spaces that tend to stand out have:
Good road visibility
Obvious signage opportunities
Easy parking
An entrance customers can find
A relatively clean interior
A surrounding customer base that fits the tenant
Service businesses continue to be particularly important in suburban retail: medical and wellness, childcare, fitness, salons, professional services, food concepts and other businesses where customers physically visit the location.
For owners of older retail space, I would look at the building from the road before automatically lowering the rent.
If a prospective customer cannot see the tenant's sign, does not know where the entrance is or thinks the building looks tired, dropping the rent by $1 or $2 per square foot may not solve the real problem.
Office: The Market Is Active, but Tenants Want Less Space
Office remains the segment where tenants generally have the most choices.
There are about 19 publicly marketed office availabilities across Wright County. Current published rents range from older Buffalo space below $10/SF to smaller or more finished spaces above $20/SF, with many traditional office options falling somewhere in between.
The market is not dead.
What continues to work is smaller, functional second-generation space.
Professional services, counseling, healthcare-related businesses, nonprofits, insurance and financial users still need offices. They are simply paying closer attention to how much square footage they actually need.
A good 1,500- to 2,500-square-foot suite has a much broader tenant pool than a 5,000-square-foot traditional office.
For owners with larger vacancies: one of the first things I would look at is whether the suite can realistically be divided without creating an awkward layout.
Sometimes the best leasing strategy is not lowering the rate. It is changing the size of the product being offered.
The Sale Market: Inventory Is Essentially Flat
The sale market has changed very little from August.
There are currently around 63 publicly marketed commercial properties for sale across Wright County, essentially in line with last month. Current inventory includes investment properties, owner-user buildings, industrial condos, downtown properties, development land and specialty assets.
What can still be difficult to find is a straightforward, reasonably sized building for a local business that wants to stop leasing and own its real estate.
That buyer is important in Wright County.
An owner-user evaluates a property differently from a traditional investor. They may be less focused on whether the building produces a textbook cap rate today and more focused on whether:
The building works for their operation
Their company can grow there
Their monthly occupancy cost makes sense
They would rather build equity than continue paying rent
For sellers of smaller commercial properties, I think the marketing needs to speak to both audiences.
Do not only show what the property earns.
Show how someone could actually use it.
Otsego: Costco Is Open — Now the Secondary Growth Is What Matters
Costco officially opened its new Otsego warehouse on August 14, so September is the first full month where that development is operating rather than simply being discussed as a future catalyst.
I would not assume that every commercial property nearby automatically becomes more valuable because Costco opened.
The more important question is what follows it.
The surrounding area is already seeing additional activity. Foss Swim School received final plat approval for a 9,600-square-foot facility, with the city expecting it to open by the end of 2026. Otsego also posted an Environmental Assessment Worksheet on September 15 for a proposed mixed-use project along Quaday Avenue.
Those are the types of projects I would watch.
A large traffic generator becomes more meaningful to commercial real estate when restaurants, medical users, childcare, fitness, service retail and additional housing begin filling in around it.
St. Michael, Albertville and Otsego increasingly function as one larger commercial trade area rather than three completely independent markets.
For owners and developers in that corridor, that is the longer-term story.
I-94: The Finish Line Is Getting Close
The I-94 expansion between Albertville and Monticello is entering its final stretch.
Construction of the third westbound lane is complete, but drivers are still generally operating with two lanes in each direction through the work zone while crews reconstruct the eastbound side. MnDOT expects the full six-lane corridor — three lanes in each direction — to open in late fall, with the current major traffic impacts continuing through late October.
For commercial property, I view this as a much bigger long-term factor than the inconvenience of the construction itself.
Once finished, the project should improve capacity and freight access through one of Wright County's primary growth corridors. MnDOT specifically identifies reducing bottlenecks, improving freight movement and supporting area growth among the project's expected benefits.
That strengthens the case for industrial users in Monticello and Otsego, regional retail around Albertville and St. Michael, and businesses that want to remain connected to the metro without locating farther east.
Highway 25: Access Is Improving, but the Project Isn't Finished Yet
The Highway 25 reconstruction between Buffalo and Monticello has also entered its final stretch.
One important change from earlier this summer is that Highway 25 from County Road 37 north into Monticello reopened to through traffic on August 21.
The remaining through-traffic closure is farther south toward Buffalo, with the detour currently running between Highway 55 and County Road 37. Local access continues to be maintained, and the overall project is scheduled through late October.
For businesses along Highway 25, that distinction matters.
Traffic patterns this summer have been unusual. I would be cautious about looking at a few months of 2026 customer traffic and concluding that it represents the long-term demand for a property.
Once the corridor fully reopens, owners and businesses will have a much better picture of normal traffic patterns.
Buffalo: Downtown Street Work Is Largely Wrapping Up
The downtown Buffalo story also looks different than it did earlier this summer.
The 1st Avenue NE and Northeast Area reconstruction has been underway since April, with the city intentionally prioritizing the commercial blocks so downtown businesses would not spend the entire construction season behind barricades. The project's goal was to have the streets passable again by September.
As we move through late September, much of the disruptive downtown street work is now behind us, even though portions of the broader Northeast Area project and related redevelopment work will continue.
The improvements include rebuilt streets and underground infrastructure along with sidewalks, parking changes, pedestrian connections and new public-space elements intended to make downtown easier to walk and use.
For downtown owners, I think this is where the conversation gets more interesting.
For much of the summer, the question was simply: How do customers get here during construction?
Going forward, the better question is: How can property owners take advantage of the improved public environment around their buildings?
New pavement and sidewalks do not automatically increase commercial rents.
But downtown retail and office is unusually dependent on the experience outside the front door. Parking, sidewalks, storefronts, signage and the ability to comfortably walk between businesses all matter.
For owners of older downtown buildings, this is a good time to look at storefront appearance, signage, lighting and simple interior improvements while the public side of the district is being upgraded.
The former Wright County Government Center redevelopment remains the larger long-term opportunity. That is a separate project, with additional road work and major private redevelopment expected in later phases rather than as part of this summer's street project.
Monticello: A Much Larger Development Question Is Taking Shape
The proposed Monticello Tech development is worth watching, but it is important not to get ahead of the approval process.
The proposal calls for an approximately 3 million-square-foot technology/data-center campus on roughly 550 acres south of 85th Street and east of Highway 25.
The city determined the revised applications complete in August. A Planning Commission public hearing is scheduled for October 6, and the city's current review timeline requires action by December 8. The project has not been approved.
For me, that last point is important.
I would not price nearby commercial land today as though a 3 million-square-foot development is guaranteed to happen.
What the proposal does tell us is that Monticello is being considered for projects at a scale that would have been difficult to imagine in Wright County not that long ago.
Available land, power, Highway 25 and I-94 access continue to make Monticello one of the county's more important employment and development markets.
Whether this particular proposal ultimately moves forward or not, that broader positioning is worth paying attention to.
Smaller Markets Are Still Where Off-Market Work Matters
Some of the most interesting commercial opportunities in Wright County never show up in the headline inventory numbers.
That is especially true in places like Annandale, Maple Lake, Delano and other smaller communities.
There are plenty of situations where an owner:
Has excess space in a building
Would consider dividing a shop
Is beginning to think about retirement
Might sell if the right buyer approached
Would lease space but has never formally marketed it
That creates an odd dynamic.
A business can look online and conclude there is nothing available while a potential solution sits a few blocks away.
This is particularly noticeable in the small industrial and owner-user market.
Knowing who owns the buildings and being willing to call them still matters in Wright County.
What Has Actually Changed Since August?
The biggest change is not a major swing in pricing.
Lease inventory is up slightly. Publicly marketed properties moved from roughly 46 in August to about 48 today.
Sale inventory is essentially unchanged. It remains around 63 properties.
Highway 25 access has improved. The northern portion of the project reopened in August, although construction continues toward Buffalo.
Downtown Buffalo is coming out of the most disruptive portion of its street reconstruction.
Costco has moved from a future catalyst to an operating business. Now the development that follows it becomes the more interesting story.
I-94 is approaching completion. By late fall, one of the county's biggest infrastructure projects should finally begin functioning as the six-lane corridor it was designed to be.
The market itself remains remarkably consistent: good small industrial space is difficult to replace, office tenants have choices, and retail properties need to make a strong case on visibility and functionality.
What I Would Be Thinking About as a Property Owner
If I owned industrial or flex space, I would make sure the property is reaching the right businesses before immediately discounting the rent.
If I owned retail, I would walk across the street and look back at my building. Can customers see the tenant? Can they tell where to enter? Is parking easy? Does the storefront make a good first impression?
If I owned office, I would think about flexibility. Smaller suites and functional second-generation space continue to have the broadest audience.
If I were preparing to sell, I would get the property's financial and operating information organized before going to market. Leases, utility history, maintenance information and clear operating expenses all make it easier for a buyer to get comfortable.
And if my property has been affected by 2026 road construction, I would be reluctant to make a long-term pricing decision based entirely on this year's temporary traffic patterns.
Final Thoughts
Wright County's commercial real estate market remains active heading into the fourth quarter, but the opportunities are increasingly specific.
Small industrial and flex continues to perform well.
Retail works when the location and presentation make sense.
Office is more competitive, but smaller functional suites are still finding users.
And major public investments around I-94, Highway 25 and downtown Buffalo are moving from years of construction toward completed infrastructure.
The biggest thing I would caution against is relying too heavily on a countywide average.
A 3,000-square-foot shop in Buffalo, a professional office in Monticello and a retail suite in Albertville may all be in Wright County, but they are not competing in the same market.
Understanding those smaller submarkets , and knowing what is happening beyond the publicly listed inventory, is where the real value is.
If you're trying to determine where your building fits in today's market, whether that means lease rate, sale price, improvements or finding the right tenant, feel free to reach out.
View Available Properties
Looking for commercial space in Wright County or the surrounding area?
Fortify Commercial maintains a current selection of properties for lease and sale, including office, retail, industrial, flex and owner-user opportunities.
View Available Commercial Properties
If you don't see the right fit, reach out. Some of the best local opportunities never make it to the public market, and direct owner outreach can uncover additional options.
Fortify Commercial
Commercial Real Estate in Wright County and Surrounding Areas
205 2nd Ave NE
Buffalo, MN 55313
info@fortifycommercial.com
763-200-1440