Minneapolis is currently experiencing the strongest growth in the Midwest after Chicago, according to a recent CBRE report. The city, which hosts 16 Fortune 500 headquarters, has seen the number of residents living in its downtown almost double in the past 10 years, to about 40,000. Minneapolis also benefits from its educated metropolitan area, with about 38.6 percent of the MSA population holding bachelor’s degrees or higher (the national average is 28.8 percent). The Twin Cities have invested billions of dollars in public transit, including the Blue Line and Green Line light rail system, which connects the downtowns and passes through the airport. Minneapolis also has the most new construction underway among secondary Midwestern cities, at 1.6 million sq. ft., including Wells Fargo’s new $300 million, 1.1.-million-sq.-ft. office complex going up next to the new $1 billion Vikings football stadium. The city’s North Loop sub-market, which totals 3.3 million sq. ft., boasts vacancy of only 8.4 percent.

International investors began looking at properties in Philadelphia starting in 2014, says Doug Rodio, a local managing director wtih JLL. Vacancy for class-A space office space in the city is averaging only about 10 percent. According to Rodio, office sales in Philadelphia’s CBD have totaled nearly $600 million. Buyers have included CBRE Global Investors, which bought the 20-story United Plaza and 27-story 1650 Arch office buildings in the Market Street West sub-market in May for about $200 million. Rodio says domestic institutional investors dominate in Philadelphia, but private equity frim and some international capital has entered the market as well. “Most of the investment is currently being done in the core-plus and value-add space,” he said in a statement.

Dan Jessup, executive managing director with JLL, says the downtown office market is experiencing a renewed sense of interest from investors. Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance is building a 32-story, 1.1-million-sq.-ft. tower in the city with the assistance of $54 million in tax incentives. The office vacancy rate in Milwaukee is at 15.2 percent. Johnson Controls plans a 50-story, 1.2 million sq. ft. corporate headquarters and more than 500,000 sq. ft. of class-B office will be taken off the market for conversion to multifamily use. “We’re seeing a strategic movement by employers to the CBD with the focused intent of recruiting Millennials who strongly prefer an urban setting for both living and working,” says Jessup.

Portland remains somewhat under the radar among investors, says Cross. The city doesn’t have big name tenants like Amazon or Microsoft as does nearby Seattle, but it does have the attention of Millennials, she notes. The local economy is expected to grow by 7.3 percent in the next three years, and the city ranks high among prospective tenants and brokerage firms due to job growth, population migration and an educated workforce. “There’s a very vibrant start-up factor to Portland, and companies see that Millennials like the city for its cool factor,” Cross says. Jay Chernikoff, CEO and founder of DeskHub, a co-working network, says the Pearl District is a testament to a small city making a commitment to urban life and a walkable lifestyle. “In addition, they have very limited office supply in the pipeline and rents are moving up quickly,” Chernikoff says. “The population continues to grow with companies, and in turn people are moving there from the Bay Area.”