Mid-America’s Jesseka Doherty to lead MSCA

Jesseka Doherty will become the 2018 president of the Minnesota Shopping Center Association. She will preside over the trade group during a difficult time for traditional retailers and malls, and a pivotal time for the organization, which will be celebrating its 30th anniversary.Doherty is vice president of leasing for the Minnesota branch of Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois-based Mid-America Real Estate Group, which has a local office in St. Louis Park. She was named president at the association’s annual awards ceremony on Tuesday at the Golden Valley Country Club, according to a news release sent Thursday.

Retail is in the midst of a paradigm shift as consumers’ shopping preferences move from traditional stores to digital sales platforms. During 2017’s post-Thanksgiving shopping bonanza, online sales increased 15.2 percent from the same period in 2016 and are on track to hit a holiday season total of $100 billion for the first time, according to a Nov. 28 report by Adobe Digital Insights.

Doherty is unfazed by the statistics and even optimistic about the future of retail.

“I think it’s definitely a transition, and nowhere near a retail apocalypse,” Doherty said Thursday. “We’ve seen more store openings than closures, so it’s not dying by any means. I find it a very exciting time because you’re seeing so much creativity in terms of use of space and new concepts.”

The president is chosen by a vote of the members, said MSCA Executive Director Karla Keller Torp. The organization has about 650 members in all, who hail from about 300 companies from around the state. Doherty said the vote occurred earlier this fall.

Each president serves a one-year term. Doherty takes over for Rick Plessner, the 2017 president and a regional leasing manager of Oak Brook, Illinois-based IRC Retail Centers, formerly known as Inland Real Estate Corp.

For the last year, Doherty has served as the first vice president of the organization. Jon Fahning of Loretto, Minnesota-based Shingobee Builders Inc. will take her place as the first vice president in 2018.

Doherty has a B.S. in commercial real estate from St. Cloud State University. She joined Mid-America in 2006, then known as Park Midwest Commercial Real Estate. Her emphasis is on landlord lease representation.

She has high-profile assignments to her credit. At present, Doherty is a leading member of the team charged with finding retail tenants for the Dayton’s project, an ambitious effort by owner New York-based 601w Cos. to turn the former Macy’s in downtown Minneapolis into a creative multi-tenant office and retail complex.

She also handles leases at The Shops at West End in St. Louis Park and a portfolio of properties on Grand Avenue in St. Paul.

Related:

• A delicate balancing act for Dayton’s redo
• Mid-America recruiting retail for Minneapolis Macy’s site