Feasibility Study Consultant in Minnesota

What makes a Minnesota feasibility study different is that state law sorts a project into a class before any market figure is applied, and the class moves the numbers: commercial property converts to tax capacity at 1.5 percent of its first $150,000 of market value and 2.0 percent of the rest, while rental housing of four or more units converts at 1.25 percent [1]; a stay of 30 days or more under an enforceable written agreement is not taxable lodging [2]; and new nursing home beds sit under a statewide moratorium while assisted living is licensed under a chapter of its own [3][4]. Population is concentrated just as sharply. The State Demographic Center places 55.6 percent of Minnesotans in the seven-county Twin Cities region [5]. The Census Bureau estimates 5,830,405 residents on July 1, 2025, up 2.2 percent from the April 2020 base [6], and of the four metro areas above a quarter million residents that reach into the state, two hold only 25.1 and 3.0 percent of their residents on the Minnesota side [7]. The sections below follow that thread through what a Minnesota credit reviewer checks, the Census demand base and the state's visitor counts, the twenty largest cities and the USDA rural screen, the four metros with their city and county finance records, Rochester, the statutory line for each asset family, four worked debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) examples labeled illustrative, and the documents the file needs.

What do lenders reviewing a Minnesota project expect from a feasibility study?

They want every part of the project placed in its statutory class, with that class's tax treatment, license and dates carried into the cash flow before any DSCR appears. For the rules bank examiners, SBA and USDA apply in every state, read lender feasibility study requirements; for the qualities that let a report survive a credit committee, read what makes a feasibility study bankable. Federal rules add two triggers: USDA requires an independent qualified consultant's study for a Business and Industry loan guarantee above $1,000,000 to a new business [8], and SOP 50 10 8.1, in force from October 1, 2026, lets SBA ask for one when needed [9].

The Minnesota part of the review turns on classification. A reviewer here tests seven points.

• The property class behind the tax line. Minnesota assessors value property at market value and may not adopt a lower standard because the value is used as a tax basis [10]. The class rate then turns that value into tax capacity, at 1.5 and 2.0 percent for commercial property and 1.25 percent for apartments of four or more units [1]. A projection that applies a tax rate straight to cost, or that leaves the class unstated, cannot be checked.
• The assessment calendar. Real property is valued as of January 2, at least one-fifth of parcels are appraised each year, and no parcel goes more than five years between reappraisals [11]. A building that becomes taxable is listed at its January 2 value for that year [11], so the study dates its first full tax bill rather than spreading tax from opening day.
• Lodging or lease. The sales tax treats lodging at a hotel, rooming house, resort, campground, motel or trailer camp as a sale, but not a continuous stay of 30 days or more under an enforceable written agreement [2]. A city may add a lodging tax of up to three percent under section 469.190 [12]. The study shows how many nights fall on each side of the 30-day line [2].
• Local sales taxes by legislative grant. A city or county may impose a general sales tax only under the sections chapter 297A lists, by special law, or under a tax enacted before 1982 [13], and legislative authority comes before voter approval [13]. A study confirms the rate at its own address instead of borrowing a neighbor's.
• A license before the first dollar of revenue. Food and beverage establishments, hotels, motels, lodging establishments, public pools and resorts need an annual license, and approval includes plan review [14]. Manufactured home parks and recreational camping areas need an annual Department of Health license [15], and no assisted living facility may operate unless licensed under chapter 144G [4].
• A moratorium on one class of care. The legislature has declared a moratorium on new nursing home beds and on nursing home construction projects above $1,000,000 [3], with exceptions only within money appropriated for the purpose [16].
• Incentives with end dates. A property tax abatement may generally run no longer than 15 years, or 20 years when another political subdivision asked in writing declines or does not answer within 90 days, or when the taxpayer's property is valued under Minnesota Rules, chapter 8100, and runs eight years if the resolution names no period [17], and tax increment ends after 25 years for housing and redevelopment districts and eight years for economic development districts [18].

Each point is answered by documents tied to the parcel: the assessor's classification, the city's lodging tax ordinance, the license file and the incentive resolution. With them in the file, coverage can be retested: the DSCR and debt yield calculator reruns it on changed inputs, the SBA DSCR calculator runs one file under both SOP 50 10 8 and SOP 50 10 8.1, and the lender fit finder with the SBA, USDA and conventional program pages points the project to a loan type.

What does Minnesota's demand base look like, and how does a study use each figure?

Minnesota's demand base is 5,830,405 residents in 2,391,870 households [6][19], and the most useful fact about it for a study is its direction: after four straight years of losing residents to other states, Minnesota gained 8,300 through net domestic migration in the year to July 2025 [6]. Table 1 lists the statewide measures and the class or license question each one feeds.

Table 1. Statewide demand measures for Minnesota

Source: Census Bureau data for Minnesota from the Vintage 2025 state population totals [6] and single-year-of-age file [20], the state building permit file for 2025 [21], and ACS 2025 one-year tables B19013, B25003 and B25064 [22][19][23]. The change since 2020, the 65-and-older share, the permit total and the renter share are FSC calculations.

Two readings follow. New construction leans to ownership: units in one-unit buildings were 61.5 percent of the 20,947 authorized in 2025, and units in buildings of five or more were 35.7 percent [21]. With 27.9 percent of occupied units rented statewide, the renter share sits below every metro row later on this page, which run from 28.2 percent in Duluth to 47.9 percent in Fargo [19], so an apartment study takes its renter pool from its own metro and county, not the state. Second, the state's age mix points to care: residents 65 and older were 19.1 percent of the population in July 2025 [20]. That share says nothing about which care license a project needs, which is a separate statutory question taken up under care below.

The yearly record explains why the five-year growth looks modest. Net domestic migration was negative in each year from 2021 to 2024, a combined loss of 44,057 over those four years, before the gain of 8,300 in 2025 [6]. Net international migration did most of the lifting: it added 96,517 over the five years to July 2025, against a five-year domestic net of minus 35,757 [6]. Table 2 shows the series.

Table 2. Minnesota population change by component, years to July 1

Source: Census Bureau state population file, Vintage 2025, Minnesota row [6]. Population change also includes births less deaths, which the table leaves out.

The five yearly changes add to 119,843 [6]. Add the 3,829 gained between the April 2020 base and July 2020 and the total is 123,672, the full difference between the base and the July 2025 estimate [6]. A study that projects demand from the 2025 gain alone should note that international arrivals in that year were less than half the 2024 figure [6], so the year's growth rested on domestic movers more than at any point in the series.

The State Demographic Center publishes its own series. It estimates 5,842,388 Minnesotans in 2024 [5]. It also reports 135,894 residents added between 2020 and 2024 [5]. Those figures come from a different producer and a different reference year than the Census estimates above, so a study picks one series per projection rather than blending them. The Demographic Center's 55.6 percent share for the seven-county Twin Cities region [5] is a count for the seven counties of Region 11; the Census metro on this page covers thirteen Minnesota counties, a wider area.

Minnesota's visitor economy is measured by Explore Minnesota, the state tourism office. It reports 82.5 million visitors in 2025, $25.2 billion in total economic impact and $2.4 billion in state and local taxes generated [24]. Those are trips by all visitors, not hotel guests, so a lodging study uses them to rank counties, not to fill rooms. Table 3 sets the county figures beside each county's July 2025 residents.

Table 3. Visitors and residents in the metro counties

Source: Explore Minnesota, county economic impact sheet for the 2025 visitor economy [24]; county residents from the Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 metro file [7]; the last column is FSC's division of the two.

Saint Louis County, home to Duluth, draws 25.9 visitors per resident, more than Hennepin's 19.5 [24][7], which is why a Duluth lodging or restaurant study can lean on visitor demand in a way a Clay County study, at 5.7, cannot [24][7]. Hennepin alone accounts for 30.4 percent of the state's 82.5 million visitors [24], and the Minneapolis-St. Paul area region as Explore Minnesota defines it counts 41,951,500 visitors, 50.9 percent of the state total, and $15,985.8 million of impact [24]. Anoka, at 4.0 visitors per resident [24][7], reads as a residential county, where visitor counts carry less weight in a study.

The supply side starts with the Census count of establishments. Table 4 lists the 2023 counts for the asset types FSC studies most, beside the Minnesota rule that classes each one.

Table 4. Minnesota establishments by type, 2023

Source: Census Bureau, 2023 County Business Patterns, Minnesota rows [25]; rules from sections 157.16 [14], 340A.404 [26], 115C.09 [27], 297A.61 [2], 144G.10 [4], 273.13 [1], 514.973 [28] and 327.15 [15] and Rules part 7150.0100 [29].

These are statewide counts, two years older than the population figures. A study for a single site replaces them with a count of competitors in its own trade area, but the statewide figures show which license or lien statute governs the operators it will meet there.

Which Minnesota cities top 50,000 residents, and what does the USDA rural screen make of them?

Twenty cities cleared fifty thousand residents in the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimates, and together they hold 2,058,341 people, 35.3 percent of Minnesotans [30][6]. Table 5 ranks them by size.

Table 5. Minnesota places over 50,000 residents

Source: Census Bureau subcounty population file, Vintage 2025, incorporated place rows [30]; change column calculated by FSC.

Thirteen of the twenty grew and seven shrank [30]. The spread is wide for places of similar size. Lakeville added 9,773 residents, a 14.1 percent gain, and Blaine and Woodbury grew 9.1 and 8.6 percent [30], while Brooklyn Park lost 3.4 percent and Plymouth 2.6 percent [30]. St. Paul lost 4,819 residents, 1.5 percent, while Minneapolis held level at plus 0.1 percent [30]. Outside the core, Rochester grew 2.4 percent [30], and St. Cloud grew 4.4 percent [30]. For a study, the lesson is that a city's size says little about its direction; the place's own series is the starting point, and the county series behind it is the second check.

Under 7 CFR 5001.3, USDA counts an area as rural only if it lies outside every city or town of more than 50,000 inhabitants and outside the urbanized area contiguous and adjacent to one, by the latest decennial census, and it will not approve an application on condition of meeting the test later [31]. Table 5 uses 2025 estimates, so it is a pointer only: sites near these cities go to the Property Eligibility Map or a Rural Development State Office determination [31]. No site is ruled in or out here.

How do the four large metros reaching into Minnesota differ for a study?

They differ in how much of their population lives in Minnesota and in which direction they are moving: the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro is 96.3 percent Minnesotan and grew 2.7 percent from the 2020 base, Duluth barely moved, and Fargo and Sioux Falls grew fastest with most of their residents across the state line [7]. Table 6 sets them beside the state.

Table 6. The four metros reaching into Minnesota, with the state for comparison

Source: Census Bureau metro and state population files for Vintage 2025 [7][6] and ACS 2025 one-year tables for income, tenure and rent [22][19][23]; migration covers the twelve months to July 1, 2025. Growth since 2020, renter shares and the share of residents on the Minnesota side are FSC calculations.

The Minnesota counties of these four metros held 3,962,987 residents in July 2025, 68.0 percent of the state [7][6]. That leaves close to a third of Minnesotans outside any metro of this size, where the USDA rural screen above is most likely to come into play. Two contrasts in Table 6 shape the sections that follow. Duluth lost 54 residents in the year even though domestic and international migration together added 815 [7], so a Duluth projection cannot rely on movers alone to grow its market. And Fargo's renter share of 47.9 percent [19] is the highest of any row, but three-quarters of that metro lives in North Dakota [7], so a Moorhead apartment study cannot assume the metro's tenure mix holds on the Minnesota bank.

Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington: thirteen Minnesota counties

The metro had 3,790,295 residents on July 1, 2025, up 2.7 percent from the 2020 base and 29,400 in the latest year [7]. Thirteen of its fifteen counties are in Minnesota and hold 3,648,500 residents, 62.6 percent of the state's population [7][6]; the two Wisconsin counties hold the other 141,795 [7]. Its median household income of $102,351 is the highest of the four metros and above the state's $92,297 [22], and its median gross rent of $1,504 is the highest as well [23]. Table 7 lists the Minnesota counties.

Table 7. Minnesota counties of the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metro

Source: county rows of the Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 metro file [7]; shares calculated by FSC.

The three largest counties are moving in different directions. Over the five years from the 2020 base, the Census county file has Dakota up 4.1 percent, Hennepin up 0.3 percent and Ramsey down 1.9 percent [32]. The State Demographic Center's series reads Ramsey differently: it estimates 557,518 residents there in 2024, up 5,166 or 0.9 percent from 2020 [5]. It puts Hennepin at 1,304,748 in 2024, the state's largest county [5]. It also has Dakota at 454,301, up 3.3 percent [5]. Because the two series disagree on whether Ramsey grew, a St. Paul study states which one it relies on and why.

Table 8. Tax base evidence for Minneapolis, St. Paul and Dakota County

Source: City of Minneapolis 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report [33]; City of Saint Paul 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report [34]; Dakota County 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report [35]. Minneapolis values are in thousands of dollars as the schedule prints them. FSC computed the change column.

Minneapolis. The State Demographic Center estimates 435,233 residents in 2024, the state's largest city [5], and the Census place series has 430,324 in 2025, up 0.1 percent from the base [30]. The city's financial report shows the split that matters for an asset choice. Apartment property's taxable assessed value rose from 4,723,778 to 13,510,195 thousand dollars between 2015 and 2025, a 186.0 percent gain, while commercial property's fell 11.8 percent in the single year to 2025 [33]. Apartments went from 12.9 percent of all taxable assessed value in 2015 to 20.7 percent in 2025, and commercial went from 17.9 to 14.5 percent [33]. An office or retail study in the city therefore starts from a falling assessment trend, and an apartment study starts from a rising one that also slipped 4.8 percent in the latest year [33]. The ten largest taxpayers held only 3.51 percent of taxable assessed value in 2025 against 10.68 percent in 2016 [33], so no single owner's appeal or vacancy moves the city's base much. The schedule prints a total direct rate of 8.40 per thousand dollars of assessed value for 2025 [33]; a study uses the parcel's own statement rather than that citywide figure.

For hotels and restaurants, the report adds a local layer the state rates do not show. Its Downtown Assets fund accounts for local sales, liquor, restaurant, entertainment and lodging taxes, which support the convention center, the arena and other downtown assets [33]. A downtown hotel or restaurant study takes each of those rates from the city for its address and keeps them out of operating revenue. Hennepin County drew 25,070,700 visitors and $9,502.4 million of visitor impact in 2025 [24], the highest of any county in Table 3.

St. Paul. The Demographic Center estimates 313,375 residents in 2024 [5]; the Census place series shows 306,684 in 2025, down 1.5 percent from the base [30]. The city's estimated market value of taxable property reached $35,607,062,000 for taxes payable in 2024, 4.7 percent above the year before [34]. Commercial and industrial value rose 10.5 percent in that year, to $5,718,584,600 [34]. Multiple dwelling value moved the other way over two years: it fell 11.0 percent from $7,642,269,000 to $6,799,476,300 and then recovered 6.3 percent to $7,228,535,200 [34]. That swing is why a St. Paul apartment study models tax capacity over more than one year, at the class 4a rate [1] and the city's total direct rate, which was 47.782 percent of tax capacity for taxes payable in 2024 [34]. Local rent control is allowed only where voters approve it in a general election [36], so an apartment study in either city confirms the rule that applies at its address before it projects rent growth.

Dakota County and the rest of the ring. Dakota's estimated market value rose 85.3 percent from 2016 to 2025, to $76,355,781,055 [35], and its ten largest taxpayers held 2.8 percent of tax capacity, down from 5.2 percent [35]. Value rose 85.3 percent over nine years while population rose 4.1 percent over five [35][32]; when value outruns people by that much, prices and new nonresidential building explain more of the trend than new households, so a Dakota study counts competing space directly rather than reading the value series as demand. Dakota drew 4,332,300 visitors and Anoka 1,524,400 in 2025 [24]. Ramsey drew 5,007,200 [24]. For Anoka and the outer counties of the ring, a study gathers county records of its own.

What the metro means by asset type follows from the class rules. Apartment projects meet class 4a at 1.25 percent of market value [1] and the city-by-city rent control question [36]. Office, retail and industrial projects meet class 3a at 1.5 and 2.0 percent and carry the state general levy that falls on commercial-industrial capacity [1][37]. Hotels meet the 30-day lodging line and the city's own lodging and downtown taxes [2][33]. A care project's license class is decided by chapter 144G or the nursing home moratorium, whatever the metro's growth [4][3].

Duluth: St. Louis and Carlton counties

The Duluth metro had 281,219 residents in July 2025, 0.2 percent more than at the 2020 base, and lost 54 in the latest year [7]. Its two Minnesota counties, St. Louis with 200,518 and Carlton with 36,711, hold 84.4 percent of the metro [7]; the Wisconsin side holds 43,990 [7]. Median household income is $75,389, the lowest of the four metros, and median gross rent is $1,122 [22][23]. The State Demographic Center estimates 87,483 residents in the city in 2024, up 786 or 0.9 percent from 2020 [5], and describes St. Louis County, at 200,797, as the largest county outside the Twin Cities metro [5].

Flat population does not mean a flat market here. The city's estimated market value reached $10,789,726,765 in 2025, 82.8 percent above 2016 [38]. Commercial real estate value rose faster, 90.0 percent, to $2,284,987,500 [38]. Over the same years the combined tax capacity rate for city, schools, county and special districts fell from 1.46629 in 2022 to 1.22398 in 2025, a 16.5 percent drop [38]. Rising values and a falling rate are two halves of one levy, which is why a Duluth study projects tax from tax capacity and the current rate together and does not grow a past tax bill by inflation. The ten largest taxpayers held 6.95 percent of estimated market value in 2025, about the same as the 6.80 percent of 2016 [38].

Table 9. Duluth's tax base, employers and harbor

Source: City of Duluth 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, including its employer survey table and the school district's enrollment figure [38]; Duluth Seaway Port Authority harbor tonnage history through 2025 [39].

Health care is the city's largest single demand driver in its own report. The employer survey lists a healthcare and hospital employer with 7,701 employees, the largest on the list [38], a healthcare and hospital taxpayer ranks third among property taxpayers at $119,268,900 of estimated market value [38], and two health systems are building downtown facilities for a combined investment above $1 billion, with $97.2 million in state legislation earmarked for public improvements including parking ramps and street work [38]. For a medical office study, that is both demand and new supply in the same district, so the study counts the systems' own new space before it projects tenant demand for independent space nearby. The university, with 1,732 employees, and the Air National Guard base, with 1,028, are the next anchors on the list [38].

Visitors are the second driver. Explore Minnesota's sheet counts 5,189,800 visitors to Saint Louis County and 600,100 to Carlton County in 2025, with $1,064.5 million and $130.4 million of impact [24]. The city's report, citing the state tourism office, says Duluth attracts over 6.7 million visitors a year who inject more than $780 million [38]. The two figures measure different things over different periods and do not reconcile, so a study uses the dated county sheet as its base. Cruise traffic is small: nine ship arrivals brought 3,680 visitors in 2025 [38]. For lodging, the city's tax chart, last updated 2019, shows a total of 14.375 percent on stays at hotels and motels with more than 30 rooms and 11.875 percent at those with 30 rooms or fewer [40]; the lodging section below explains how a study treats that difference.

The harbor is the third. The Duluth-Superior harbor handled 22,949,135 metric tons in 2025 on 566 vessel visits, down 14.6 percent from 2024 and 20.3 percent from 2023 [39]. The Port Authority describes an average of 33 million short tons of bulk material a year and lists seven grain elevators with 55-million-bushel capacity [41]. Tonnage is bulk cargo. It informs an industrial, warehouse or truck-service study near the port, and says nothing about hotel or retail demand.

Fargo-Moorhead: Clay County

The Fargo metro had 269,528 residents in July 2025, 7.9 percent more than at the 2020 base, and added 2,918 in the latest year [7]. Clay County, its only Minnesota county, held 67,734 residents, 25.1 percent of the metro [7]; the North Dakota side held 201,794 [7]. The metro's renter share of 47.9 percent is the highest of the four metros, its median household income is $82,912 and its median gross rent is $1,132 [19][22][23].

The Minnesota side's own evidence comes from the State Demographic Center and the City of Moorhead. The Demographic Center estimates 66,848 Clay County residents in 2024, up 1,530 or 2.3 percent from 2020 [5]. It counts 45,913 residents in Moorhead [5]. Moorhead's financial report shows taxable market value of $3,689,631,100 in 2024 against $2,153,993,100 in 2015, a 71.3 percent rise [42]. Over the same years the city's net tax capacity rate went from 38.662 percent to 50.492 percent [42], so in Moorhead the city rate climbed over the decade alongside value, while Duluth's combined rate fell over its latest three years; a study reads each city's own rate history rather than assuming either pattern. Clay County drew 383,700 visitors and $132.8 million of visitor impact in 2025 [24], 5.7 visitors per resident [24][7].

Table 10. Fargo metro and its Minnesota side

Source: Census Bureau CBSA estimates [7]; City of Moorhead 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report [42]; Explore Minnesota county sheet [24].

For a study, the metro row and the Minnesota row answer different questions. The metro's growth and renter share describe a market centered in North Dakota [7][19]. The Minnesota parcel pays Minnesota's class rates and Moorhead's tax capacity rate [1][42], holds a Minnesota license, and collects Minnesota sales tax [43]. An apartment, storage or retail study on the Moorhead side therefore takes its demand from the whole metro but its tax, license and lodging lines from Minnesota law, and states that split in its assumptions.

Sioux Falls: Rock County

Sioux Falls counted 314,638 metro residents in July 2025, up 9.9 percent on the 2020 base and the fastest growth of the four [7]. Only Rock County lies in Minnesota, with 9,524 residents, 3.0 percent of the metro [7]. The metro's renter share of 38.8 percent, median income of $86,761 and median rent of $1,213 [19][22][23] describe a South Dakota market. A Rock County site borrows that market's demand only if its trade area reaches it, while its tax, license and lodging lines follow Minnesota law [1][14]. The metro figures above are the only Sioux Falls evidence on this page, so a study here gathers Rock County's own records before it relies on the metro's growth.

Where does Rochester fit, outside the four large metros?

Rochester is Minnesota's third-largest city, with 124,220 residents in 2024 by the State Demographic Center's count [5], but it is not among the metros above a quarter million residents [7], so its evidence comes from the city and the state rather than a metro row. The Census place series has it at 124,292 in July 2025, up 2.4 percent from the base [30]. Olmsted County drew 6,142,800 visitors and $1,243.0 million of visitor impact in 2025 [24], more visitors than Saint Louis or Ramsey County [24].

Table 11. Rochester's tax base and visitor evidence

Source: City of Rochester 2024 Financial Statement, Statistical Section [44]; City of Rochester tax increment financing page [45]; Explore Minnesota county sheet [24]. FSC computed the change in taxable market value.

Rochester's taxable market value more than doubled from taxes payable 2016 to 2025, up 106.9 percent, while the city's tax rate barely moved, from 51.332 percent of tax capacity in 2016 to 51.231 in 2025 [44]. The city levy rose 93.4 percent, from $52,500,000 in 2015 to $101,530,873 in fiscal 2024 [44]. The ten largest taxpayers held 12.80 percent of tax capacity value, and the largest alone, a medical campus, held 8.38 percent [44], about two-thirds of the top ten's share. That concentration is the central fact for a Rochester study: when one campus carries that much of the tax base, a medical office, lodging, restaurant or apartment study in the city states its exposure to that campus and tests the projection against a slower year there.

The city uses tax increment sparingly. Only 1.6 percent of its tax capacity sits inside TIF districts, and the city credits TIF redevelopment over the past ten years with an estimated $456 million in new assessed market value [45]. A redevelopment district's increment can run 25 years from the first increment [18], so a Rochester project offered increment financing shows the district type and its end year in the projection. For supply, the city keeps a public archive of monthly, summary, detail and spreadsheet building permit reports [46], which a study uses to count recent and pending competition.

Where does Minnesota law draw the line for each asset family?

Every family has a statutory line of its own, and the projection changes with the side of that line the project falls on: a stay length for lodging, a barrel count for brewing, a unit count for housing, a license type for care and a floor area for data centers. The sections below give the line for each family and what a study does with it.

Lodging: a one-week definition, a 30-day line and a three percent city cap

Minnesota defines a hotel or motel by accommodations furnished to the public for periods of less than one week [47], and every hotel, motel, lodging establishment and resort needs an annual license that includes plan review approval [14]. The license is a dated step in the schedule, not a formality: no operation begins until it is approved [14].

The tax line follows stay length. The sales tax counts lodging and related services at a hotel, rooming house, resort, campground, motel or trailer camp as a sale [2], at the general rate of 6.5 percent [43] plus an additional 0.375 percent that the statute says expires July 1, 2034 [43]. A continuous stay of 30 days or more under an enforceable written agreement that cannot be ended without prior notice falls outside the definition [2]. A statutory or home rule charter city may add a lodging tax of up to three percent on gross receipts at a hotel, motel, rooming house, tourist court or resort [12], which also does not reach stays of 30 days or more [12]. Ninety-five percent of that tax's proceeds must fund a local convention or tourism bureau, except where a city's lodging tax was enacted by special law or before 1972 [12], and a tax under the section may not push the combined rate with such a tax above three percent [12].

Two study steps follow. An extended-stay or corporate-housing project counts its nights on each side of the 30-day line and shows that the long stays carry written agreements, since only those leave the tax base [2]. And a project in a city with older or special-law lodging taxes takes the rate from the city. Duluth's chart, last updated 2019, shows a 3.0 percent lodging tax and, at properties with more than 30 rooms, a further 2.5 percent [40], 5.5 percent in all, above the general section's three percent figure [40][12]. The same chart's totals are 14.375 percent above 30 rooms and 11.875 percent at 30 rooms or fewer [40], and its state column of 6.875 percent is the 6.5 percent rate plus the 0.375 percent addition [40][43]. Because the chart is dated 2019, a Duluth study treats every one of those rates as a lender-check item and confirms it with the city before it closes its tax line.

Table 12. Lodging rules that change a Minnesota hotel or resort study

Source: Minnesota Statutes sections 157.15 [47], 157.16 [14], 297A.61 [2], 469.190 [12], 297A.62 [43] and 273.13 [1].

A resort on a lake meets one more class. Class 1c covers commercial use property that abuts public water and is devoted to temporary and seasonal residential occupancy for recreation [1], so a resort study asks the assessor whether the property holds that class before it sets the tax line. With 925 hotel and motel establishments counted statewide in 2023 [25], the supply survey for any lodging study also records each competitor's room count, because in a city like Duluth the 30-room line changes the guest's total price [40].

Food and beverage: state licensing, city liquor licenses and the 3,500-barrel line

A food and beverage service establishment needs the same annual license with plan review approval as a hotel [14]. Alcohol adds a second layer. Liquor with more than 3.2 percent alcohol by weight is intoxicating liquor [48], and a city may issue an on-sale intoxicating liquor license to listed establishments, hotels and restaurants among them, within its jurisdiction [26]. Because the license is the city's, a restaurant study confirms with that city that a license can be issued at the site before it projects bar revenue.

Brewing projects meet a production line. A brew pub is a brewer that also holds a retail on-sale license and makes fewer than 3,500 barrels of malt liquor a year at any one licensed premises [48]. A brewer making more than 3,500 barrels a year pays a state license fee of $4,000, and the general manufacturer class pays $30,000 [49]. A licensed brewer or brew pub may sell up to 768 fluid ounces a week to employees or retired employees for off-premise use [49]. A brewery restaurant's production schedule therefore shows how far it stays below 3,500 barrels at each premises, because crossing the line moves the business into another license class [48].

Table 13. Food and beverage lines in Minnesota law

Source: Minnesota Statutes sections 340A.101 [48], 340A.301 [49] and 340A.404 [26].

Restaurants face the largest competitor set of any family on this page, 10,937 food services and drinking places statewide in 2023 [25]. In downtown Minneapolis they also sit inside a local tax structure: the city's Downtown Assets fund accounts for local sales, liquor, restaurant and entertainment taxes alongside lodging taxes [33]. A restaurant projection there prices the guest check with those taxes and keeps them out of sales.

Fuel and auto: tank rules and a capped cleanup fund

Every owner and operator of an underground storage tank system must meet the release prevention requirements in subparts 7 to 14 of Rules part 7150.0100 for as long as the system is in use [29]. When a release happens, the petroleum tank release cleanup board reimburses an eligible applicant for 90 percent of the total reimbursable costs at the site, with exceptions in the statute [27], and no more than $2,000,000 for any single release [27]. Reimbursement follows costs incurred, so the owner funds the cleanup first.

For a station study, the fund changes the size of the environmental reserve but does not remove it. The unreimbursed tenth of a small cleanup is a modest number; a large release that crosses the $2,000,000 cap leaves the owner with everything above it [27], and Illustrative model D below shows how that moves DSCR. A study confirms eligibility and the statute's exceptions with the board before counting any reimbursement. Census counted 1,835 gasoline stations with convenience stores and 232 car washes in Minnesota in 2023 [25]; a station study maps the existing stations in its own trade area, and the tank record of the site itself is the first document a reviewer asks for.

Housing: class rates, a ballot test for rent control and park notice periods

Apartments of four or more units rented for 30 days or more are class 4a, at 1.25 percent of market value [1]. Qualifying low-income rental housing in class 4d(1) is at 0.25 percent, and class 4d(2) at 0.75 percent [1]. On the same market value, a 4d(1) building's tax capacity is one-fifth of a 4a building's [1], which is why an affordable housing study states the share of units that will qualify and the certification behind it before it sets the tax line.

Rent rules are statewide by default. No city, county or town may adopt or renew a law to control rents on private residential property [36], unless the ordinance, charter amendment or law is approved in a general election [36]. Security deposits earn simple interest of one percent a year, and the landlord must return the deposit with interest, or a written statement of reasons for keeping it, within three weeks after the tenancy ends [50]. An apartment study names whether a voter-approved rent law applies at its address and reflects the deposit interest in its other-expense line.

Manufactured home parks have their own class of rules. A park is any site with two or more occupied manufactured homes [51], it needs an annual Department of Health license [15], a rule change requires at least 60 days' written notice to residents [52], and a closure to convert the park to a common interest community carries a nine-month notice [53]. A residential manufactured home sold by a dealer is taxed on 65 percent of the dealer's cost [43], which a park study that sells homes builds into its home-sale margin.

Table 14. Housing rules that change a Minnesota study

Source: Minnesota Statutes sections 273.13 [1], 471.9996 [36], 504B.178 [50], 327.14 [51], 327.15 [15], 327C.02 [52], 327C.095 [53] and 297A.62 [43].

Demand for any of these starts from the 667,944 renter-occupied units counted statewide in 2025 [19] and the 7,472 units authorized in buildings of five or more [21], then narrows to the metro and county rows earlier on this page.

Storage: a lien timetable set by statute

Minnesota's self-service storage lien statute sets the collection calendar. The lien notice must state the amount owed and demand payment within a time not less than 14 days after the notice is delivered [28]. A sale may take place no sooner than 45 days after default, or 60 days for a motor vehicle or watercraft [28]. After the notice period, the sale must be published once a week for two consecutive weeks and may not take place sooner than 15 days after the first publication [28]. An occupant may not use a unit for residential purposes [54].

Table 15. The storage lien timetable

Source: Minnesota Statutes sections 514.973 [28] and 514.971 [54].

The timetable sets how long a delinquent unit stays off the market, so a storage study's collection loss and its turnover assumptions follow it, and a facility that stores vehicles or boats carries the longer 60-day minimum on those units [28]. Census counted 176 self-storage lessors and 285 warehousing and storage establishments in Minnesota in 2023 [25].

Care: a 144G license, a nursing home moratorium and child care ratios

Care projects in Minnesota are defined by which license they hold. Since August 1, 2021, no assisted living facility may operate unless licensed under chapter 144G, and a facility with a secured dementia care unit must hold the separate license as an assisted living facility with dementia care [4]. The Department of Health runs the Assisted Living Licensure program, with application materials and a competitive grant program on its page [55]. Nursing homes sit under a different rule. The legislature has declared a moratorium on licensure and medical assistance certification of new nursing home beds and on construction projects above $1,000,000 [3], the commissioner must deny requests for new licensed or certified nursing home or certified boarding care beds except as the statute provides [3], and exceptions can be granted only within money appropriated to the medical assistance program for that purpose [16].

For a senior project, those lines decide the study before demand does. A memory care wing means the dementia care license class [4]. A skilled nursing project starts from existing beds or an exception, so the study documents which applies [3][16]. Residents 65 and older were 19.1 percent of Minnesotans in July 2025 [20], and Census counted 616 assisted living facilities for the elderly in 2023 [25]; both feed the demand and supply count once the license class is set.

Child care centers are licensed by capacity. Minnesota Rules set staff-to-child ratios and maximum group sizes by age, a minimum of 35 square feet of indoor space per child in attendance, and one hand sink and one toilet for each 15 children or portion of 15 in licensed capacity [56][57].

Table 16. Child care center rules that set capacity and staffing

Source: Minnesota Rules parts 9503.0040 [56] and 9503.0155 [57].

Indoor space caps the number of children, and the age mix sets the number of staff, so a center's revenue and its largest cost both come from the floor plan and the enrollment mix [56][57]. Illustrative model C below works through one floor plan.

Education: charter contracts, authorizers and building lease aid

A charter school's building loan rests on a contract with a fixed term. An initial charter contract may run up to five years plus a preoperational planning period, and a renewed contract up to five years [58]. A charitable organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code may act as an authorizer only if it is registered with the attorney general, incorporated in Minnesota, and has operated continuously for at least five years without operating a charter school [59]. A school may lease only from a lessor who is also the building owner [60], so a development entity that leases from another owner and subleases to the school does not fit the statute.

Building lease aid pays part of the rent. It may not exceed the lesser of 90 percent of the approved cost or the lease aid pupil units times $1,314 [61], and the school must not use it for custodial, maintenance service, utility or other operating costs [61]. A study for a charter school building therefore separates rent from operating charges, shows the aid each enrollment level produces, and sets the loan term against the contract term. Illustrative model B below does that arithmetic.

Higher education draws its own demand. Minnesota State says it serves more than 290,000 students a year [62] across 33 state colleges and universities [63], the base for student housing and campus-area retail studies, which then need the campus's own enrollment. In Duluth, the city's report lists school enrollment of 8,723 [38].

Recreation: public waters, resorts, camping areas and agritourism

Recreation projects in Minnesota meet water before anything else. A public-waters-work permit is required to change or diminish the course, current or cross section of public waters, including by filling, excavating or placing materials on the beds of public waters [64], so a marina, dock or shoreline venue study lists the permit as a dated step before any slip revenue. Resorts on public water may hold class 1c [1]. A recreational camping area needs an annual Department of Health license [15], and the sales tax treats lodging at a campground as a sale [2]. The agritourism immunity statute defines an agritourism activity as one carried out on a farm or ranch that lets the public view, enjoy or take part in rural activities [65], which a farm venue or farm stay study cites when it describes the activity mix.

Demand for these projects is uneven across the state. Saint Louis and Carlton counties drew 25.9 and 16.3 visitors per resident in 2025 against 4.0 in Anoka [24][7], and Census counted 142 RV parks and campgrounds statewide in 2023 [25]. A campground or glamping study ranks its county on the visitor sheet and then counts the campgrounds within its own drive time.

Industrial and data centers: a state levy, an equipment exemption and grant limits

Commercial and industrial property carries a state levy of its own. The state general levy on commercial-industrial property is $716,990,000 for taxes payable in 2023 and after [37], spread over the tax capacity of class 3 and class 5(1) property [37], which leaves class 4a apartments outside it. Because the levy is a fixed dollar amount, a parcel's share of it moves with the statewide commercial-industrial base, and a study takes the parcel's current state levy line from its tax statement rather than computing it.

Data centers meet a size line. Purchases of enterprise information technology equipment and computer software for use in a qualified data center are exempt from sales tax, with the tax refunded in the manner the statute provides [66]. A qualified data center is one or more buildings totaling at least 25,000 square feet on one parcel or contiguous parcels [66], and a refurbished data center qualifies only if construction or refurbishment, equipment and software cost reach at least $50,000,000 within the statutory period [66]. Since the exemption works through a refund, a data center study's sources and uses shows the tax paid and the refund received as separate dated lines.

Table 17. Industrial and data center lines in Minnesota law

Source: Minnesota Statutes sections 275.025 [37], 297A.68 [66], 116J.8731 [67] and 469.176 [18].

Port and warehouse projects in the northeast read the harbor record. Tonnage fell 14.6 percent from 2024 to 2025 [39], and the Port Authority lists seven grain elevators with 55-million-bushel capacity [41]. Statewide, Census counted 285 warehousing and storage establishments in 2023 [25]. A Minnesota investment fund grant may not exceed $1,000,000 for one project [67], so an industrial study that counts one treats it as a capped source in the capital stack.

What do Minnesota's class rates, state levy and incentives do to DSCR?

Through three channels: the class rate decides how much of a building's market value is taxed, the guest-paid sales and lodging taxes have to stay out of revenue, and each incentive or reimbursement adds a change to cash flow that ends when its statute says it ends. Table 18 sets out how property tax reaches a projection, Table 19 lists the incentives and reimbursements with their limits, and four illustrative models then do the arithmetic.

Table 18. How Minnesota property tax reaches a projection

Source: Minnesota Statutes sections 273.11 [10], 273.01 [11], 273.13 [1], 275.025 [37] and 278.01 [68]; City of Duluth [38], City of Saint Paul [34], City of Moorhead [42] and City of Rochester [44] financial reports.

The local rates in Table 18 are not one kind of number. Duluth's combined figure covers city, school, county and special district levies and is stated per dollar of tax capacity [38]; St. Paul's is the city's direct rate only [34]; Moorhead's and Rochester's are city rates as their reports print them [42][44]. A study uses the full set of rates on the parcel's own statement, and it never compares one city's direct rate with another's combined rate.

Table 19. Minnesota incentives and reimbursements, with their limits

Source: Minnesota Statutes sections 469.1813 [17], 469.176 [18], 116J.8731 [67], 297A.68 [66], 115C.09 [27] and 124E.22 [61].

Abatement and increment change coverage on a date set by law, not by the market. An abatement resolution that names no period runs eight years [17], so on a loan amortized over a longer term the study shows DSCR in the first year without it as the stabilized case. Increment from an economic development district stops after eight years [18], which makes it a construction-period source more than a long-term one. Rochester's practice shows how sparingly some cities use increment: only 1.6 percent of its tax capacity is in TIF districts [45].

The four models that follow each take one cited Minnesota rule and hold everything else at labeled assumptions. Their coverage ratios are arithmetic, useful for seeing how far a rule can move DSCR, and they report nothing about any real property or market.

Illustrative model A: one market value, three property classes, at Duluth's 2025 rate. The model takes a building with an assumed market value of $3,000,000 in Duluth and computes its tax capacity three ways: as class 3a commercial property at 1.5 percent of the first $150,000 and 2.0 percent of the rest, as class 4a apartments at 1.25 percent, and as class 4d(1) low-income rental housing at 0.25 percent [1]. It applies Duluth's 2025 combined tax capacity rate of 1.22398 [38]. The commercial case leaves out the state general levy on class 3 capacity [37], a state levy outside the city, school, county and special district rate, so its tax is understated. Net operating income before property tax is held at an assumed $330,000 and annual debt service at an assumed $230,000 in every case, so the class is the only thing that changes [1].

Table 20. Illustrative model A: tax capacity and DSCR by class on a $3,000,000 building

Source: class rates from Minnesota Statutes section 273.13 [1]; Duluth's combined tax capacity rate from the City of Duluth 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report [38]; state general levy scope from section 275.025 [37]. Tax capacity is market value times the class rate; tax is tax capacity times 1.22398; DSCR is net operating income after tax divided by debt service. Market value, income and debt service are illustration inputs chosen by FSC; nothing in the table is a market observation.

On one building value, the class alone moves coverage from 1.12 to 1.39, a spread of 0.27 [1][38]. The first tier matters little at this size: taxing the first $150,000 at 1.5 rather than 2.0 percent saves $750 of tax capacity, about $918 of tax at the Duluth rate [1][38]. The rate matters more. At Duluth's 2022 combined rate of 1.46629, the commercial case's tax would be $86,878 and its DSCR 1.06 [38]. A lender reviewing a mixed-use or affordable housing file asks for the class of each part, and a study that projects a tax bill forward states the rate year it used.

Illustrative model B: charter school building lease aid and the owner's DSCR. The model takes a charter school building leased under a triple-net lease at an assumed annual rent of $1,100,000, treated as the approved cost, to a school with an assumed 650 lease aid pupil units [61]. Building lease aid is the lesser of 90 percent of the approved cost or the pupil units times $1,314 [61]. The owner, who must also be the lessor [60], keeps an assumed reserve of $33,000 a year and pays assumed debt service of $850,000.

Table 21. Illustrative model B: lease aid, rent and the owner's coverage

Source: lease aid formula and use limits from Minnesota Statutes section 124E.22 [61]; lessor rule from section 124E.13 [60]. Rent, pupil units, reserve and debt service are FSC's illustration inputs, and every other line is calculated from them and the statute.

On full rent the owner's coverage is 1.26, but at 650 pupil units the state aid alone would cover only 0.97 of debt service [61]. The other $245,900 a year comes from the school's general revenue, and the statute keeps aid away from operating charges: it may not pay custodial, maintenance service, utility or other operating costs [61], so the lease has to separate rent from those charges. Enrollment drives the aid until about 753 pupil units, where the 90 percent limit takes over [61]. At an assumed 585 pupil units, ten percent fewer, the aid falls to $768,690, covers 69.9 percent of rent, and the aid-only coverage drops to 0.87 [61]. A lender also sets the contract term, up to five years after any planning period [58], against the loan term, so the study states the renewal date and what happens to rent if the charter is not renewed.

Illustrative model C: a child care center sized by Rules chapter 9503. The model takes a center with an assumed 4,200 square feet of indoor space for children [57]. At the 35 square feet per child the rule requires, licensed capacity is 120 children [57]. It assumes an age mix of 16 infants, 28 toddlers and 76 preschoolers and staffs each group at the rule's ratio and within its maximum group size [56]. Tuition is assumed at $430 a week for infants, $380 for toddlers and $300 for preschoolers over 50 billed weeks, each ratio staff position is assumed to cost $48,000 a year with benefits, and all other costs, from administration to occupancy, are assumed at $570,000 [56].

Table 22. Illustrative model C: capacity, staffing and DSCR for a 120-child center

Source: space and plumbing minimums from Minnesota Rules part 9503.0155 [57]; ratios and group sizes from part 9503.0040 [56]. Floor area, age mix, tuition, staff cost, other costs, loss rates and debt service are FSC's illustration inputs, not observed rates.

The rules fix two things the operator cannot trade away in this model: the square footage caps enrollment at 120, and the age mix fixes sixteen ratio staff [57][56]. An infant place needs 2.5 times the ratio staffing of a preschool place [56], so the enrollment mix moves cost as much as revenue. And because staff follow licensed groups rather than billed children, raising the vacancy and collection loss from 8 to 15 percent takes DSCR from 1.29 to 0.94 [56]. A Minnesota child care study shows the floor plan room by room, the group count for each age, and the staff that count requires before it shows coverage.

Illustrative model D: the Petrofund cap at a fuel station. The model takes a station with assumed net operating income of $420,000 and assumed base debt service of $300,000, and tests two assumed releases, one with $500,000 of reimbursable cleanup cost and one with $2,800,000 [27]. The cleanup board reimburses 90 percent of reimbursable costs, but no more than $2,000,000 for a single release [27]. The model assumes the costs qualify and that the owner finances its unreimbursed share at an assumed annual constant of 12 percent [27].

Table 23. Illustrative model D: DSCR after a release, with the reimbursement cap

Source: reimbursement share and cap from Minnesota Statutes section 115C.09 [27]. Cleanup costs, income, debt service and the financing constant are FSC's illustration inputs; the remaining lines follow from them and the statute.

The cap does most of the damage. Without it, the larger release would leave the owner $280,000 and coverage at 1.26; with it, the owner carries $800,000 and coverage falls to 1.06 [27]. The model is generous in one respect: it assumes every cost qualifies and that the owner can carry the cleanup until reimbursement arrives. A station study confirms eligibility and the statute's exceptions with the board, prices the bridge financing as its own line, and reports the tank compliance record under Rules part 7150.0100 that a reviewer will read first [29].

Sales and lodging taxes complete the picture without a separate model. They are the guest's, not the operator's, so a hotel or restaurant pro forma states revenue net of every tax it collects. In Duluth the city chart, last updated 2019, shows the total running from 11.875 percent at a hotel of 30 rooms or fewer to 14.375 percent above 30 rooms [40]. A pro forma built from gross receipts at the larger rate would overstate room revenue by the 14.375 percent collected on top of the room rate [40], enough on its own to move a thin DSCR across a lender's threshold.

Which FSC guides should a Minnesota project read next?

FSC has no asset-by-state pages for Minnesota, so Minnesota projects are served by one model study located in the state and by the national guides, each read with the class rules on this page. FSC's SBA 504 medical office model study in Minnesota shows the format of a study set in this state.

The national guides cover method; the Minnesota line to check with each group comes from the sections above.

• Lodging and recreation: hotel, RV park, glamping, marina and wedding venue. Check the 30-day lodging line [2], the city's lodging tax authority, the camping area license and, on the water, the public-waters-work permit.
• Food and beverage: restaurant and brewery. Check the city's on-sale license and the brew pub production line.
• Fuel and auto: car wash, gas station and truck stop. Check the tank compliance record and the cleanup fund's cap.
• Housing: multifamily, manufactured housing community, senior housing and mixed-use. Check class 4a or 4d(1), the rent control ballot test and the park notice periods.
• Storage and industrial: cold storage, data center, industrial, RV and boat storage and self-storage. Check the lien timetable, the state general levy and the data center floor-area line.
• Care, health and education: assisted living, skilled nursing, daycare, medical office and charter school. Check the chapter 144G license class, the nursing home moratorium, the child care ratios and building lease aid.
• Retail: retail. Check class 3a and the local sales tax authority at the address.

To compare a bank loan with a government-guaranteed one before the study starts, see SBA versus conventional feasibility studies.

Who writes a Minnesota feasibility study, and whose decisions feed it?

A consultant independent of the borrower writes the study; any appraisal the lender orders is a different job, done by a licensed appraiser. Minnesota's definition is wide: an appraisal covers any analysis, opinion or conclusion about the value or utility, or the nature or quality, of named interests in identified real estate [69], and an engagement counts as an appraisal assignment when the appraiser serves as a disinterested third party giving an unbiased opinion on value or utility [69]. Acting as a real estate appraiser in Minnesota without a chapter 82B license is unlawful [70], and licenses are sought from the commissioner of commerce [69]. Because the definition is that wide, a feasibility study states in plain words that it tests whether projected income will carry the proposed debt and offers no opinion of value, leaving any value conclusion to the licensed appraiser. Feasibility study vs appraisal compares the two reports, and feasibility study vs market study shows what a demand-only report leaves out.

Program coverage is simple in Minnesota. The SBA Minnesota District Office serves the entire state, all 87 counties [71], so every Minnesota SBA file goes through one district office. For USDA files, 7 CFR 5001.3 sends rural area questions to the Rural Development State Office [31]. Program detail sits on FSC's SBA feasibility study and USDA feasibility study pages. Table 24 lists the bodies and licenses whose decisions become inputs or dates in a Minnesota projection.

Table 24. Who decides the dated items in a Minnesota study

Source: Minnesota Statutes sections 273.01 [11], 273.13 [1], 278.01 [68], 297A.99 [13], 275.025 [37], 469.190 [12], 340A.404 [26], 469.1813 [17], 469.176 [18], 157.16 [14], 327.15 [15], 144A.071 [3], 115C.09 [27], 124E.10 [58] and 82B.021 [69]; Minnesota Department of Health [55]; SBA [71]; 7 CFR 5001.3 [31].

Which documents belong in a Minnesota study file?

A Minnesota file holds the documents that prove each class and date the projection uses: the assessor's class and value, the city's tax rates and authority, each license with its status, each incentive with its end, and the program records. Table 25 pairs each document with the Minnesota rule that governs it. For the program side of the file, FSC's document checklist and the SBA and USDA checklist generators produce a list for one deal.

Table 25. The Minnesota study file, document by document

Source: the statutes and rules named in each row; Minnesota Statutes [1][10][11][37][12][2][13][14][15][26][48][27][36][50][28][4][3][16][58][60][61][64][66][17][18]; Minnesota Rules [29][57][56].

What makes a Minnesota feasibility study larger or longer?

The count of classes, licenses and local rates the project touches, because each one is a document to obtain and a case to model. This page quotes no fee or schedule. For pricing, see feasibility study cost in 2026 and the cost estimator, which returns a range for one project; to decide whether a market study should come before the feasibility study, use the market vs feasibility decision tree. In Minnesota the scope grows with six things.

• More than one class in one building. A building that mixes shops with apartments, or market-rate with low-income units, has to establish which class rate applies to which part, and any 4d(1) share needs its certification [1].
• Licenses with plan review. Every food, lodging, pool or resort operation needs plan review approval before opening [14], and care projects add the chapter 144G license type or a moratorium exception [4][16].
• City-by-city tax evidence. Lodging taxes under special laws, downtown taxes like those in Minneapolis, and a Duluth rate chart dated 2019 each need confirmation with the city [12][33][40].
• Metros that cross the state line. All four metros have counties in another state, and in two of them most residents live outside Minnesota, so demand evidence comes from two states while the tax and license lines stay Minnesotan [7].
• Local reports with different years and units. Minneapolis prints assessed values in thousands of dollars, St. Paul reports by payable year, Rochester by taxes payable and Moorhead's latest report is for 2024 [33][34][44][42]; a study aligns them before comparing.
• Work on public waters. A marina, dock or shoreline project adds the public-waters-work permit to its schedule [64].