Cushman & Wakefield added Brian Helmken, Erik Heltne and Addison Carlson to its Minneapolis office leasing team.
The strategic hires strengthen the firm’s ability to serve occupiers and landlords across the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota, enhancing its office leasing capabilities with deep local expertise and market insight.
At Cushman & Wakefield, Helmken and Heltne will serve as Senior Directors, while Carlson takes on the role of Senior Associate. The trio comes to the firm from Avison Young, where they built a strong track record advising clients across the city and suburban office markets.
Helmken brings more than 30 years of industry experience in the local market to Cushman & Wakefield, most recently as Executive Vice President in Avison Young’s Minneapolis/St. Paul office. His expertise spans landlord and tenant representation, as well as new developments, site acquisitions and dispositions. Throughout his career, Helmken has been recognized for delivering strategic guidance and actionable market insights to clients. He holds a B.A. in Urban Studies and Political Science from the University of Minnesota Duluth and is an active member of the Minnesota Commercial Association of Realtors (MNCAR). He previously served as a Housing and Redevelopment Authority Commissioner for the City of Plymouth, Minnesota.
With over 15 years of commercial real estate experience, Heltne most recently served as Executive Vice President with Avison Young where he focused on the Twin Cities’ Southwest and West suburban office markets. He represented both institutional and local landlords on strategic leasing solutions informed by in-depth market knowledge. Heltne began his career in 2008 with St. Louis-based Cassidy Turley (now Cushman & Wakefield), advising tenants and landlords in the Minneapolis central business district, and later spent five years with CBRE. He holds a B.S. in Marketing Management and Business Communications from the University of St. Thomas and is actively involved in industry organizations including NAIOP and MNCAR.
Carlson specializes in office leasing across the Twin Cities’ Southwest and West suburban markets. During the past three years at Avison Young, she represented a diverse portfolio of local office landlords, helping to drive occupancy and enhance asset performance through data-driven strategies. She brings a strong analytical background to her new role at Cushman, having previously worked in financial planning and analysis for a technology company in Minnetonka. She earned her B.A. from the University of St. Thomas with dual concentrations in Supply Chain Management and Data Analytics and is a licensed real estate broker in Minnesota.
