Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Downtown - North Loop - Mill District - Elliot Park - Loring Park
MplsTodd
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Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

Postby MplsTodd » August 3rd, 2012, 1:03 pm

Here's a general thread for news related to the downtown Minneapolis office market. I thought I'd kick it off with the following news that Delta Dental plans to relocate their headquarter office from Eagan to downtown. Given that we now have the American Academy of Neurologists a few blocks down, plus this medical oriented tenant, could a trend be starting? Maybe United Healthcare could be persuaded to move a division down to this corridor. Possibly even to the building site next to the Zenith, across from their founder's gift to the city: Gold Medal Park. (That would be great, but I'm not holding my breath!)

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/p ... -room.html

Delta Dental moving HQ to Mpls
Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal by Sam Black, Senior reporter
Date: Friday, August 3, 2012, 5:00am CDT - Last Modified: Thursday, August 2, 2012, 5:46pm CDT

Sam Black
Senior reporter- Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal
Delta Dental of Minnesota this week moved 55 employees and its corporate headquarters to downtown Minneapolis from Eagan.

The nonprofit insurance company wanted a more central location and was running out of room in its Eagan space.

To solve both issues, it leased about 25,000 square feet of office space on the second floor of the Depot Office Center at 500 Washington Ave. S. in the Mill District near the Guthrie Theater.

min-chi-cbus
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Re: Downtown Office Market News

Postby min-chi-cbus » August 3rd, 2012, 3:08 pm

Eagan just scored Stream Global's HQ from Boston (we almost NEVER bring IN large companies to this state!), but that's not downtown. Still, nearly a $billion company is added to the market -- not bad after losing a couple to mergers (e.g. Pentair), we lost the Accounting merger between a Fargo and Milwaukee company, now HQ'd in Chicago instead of Minneapolis, and two more that are surely going to be off the Fortune 500 list or off the market altogether if things don't drastically change (Best Buy and Supervalu)!

min-chi-cbus
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Downtown Office Market

Postby min-chi-cbus » August 10th, 2012, 10:47 am

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/p ... tml?page=3

According to this article posted in the Twin Cities Business Journal, there are over a dozen companies looking for moderate/large swaths of space to either consolidate operations or expand. Here's a list of those companies and where they may be heading:

IN THE HUNT
Companies looking for large office spaces in the Twin Cities (listed by potential square footage):
Wells Fargo & Co., 550,000, western suburbs
Dell Inc., 150,000-450,000, southwest or southeast markets
Dorsey & Whitney, 300,000, downtown Mpls.
American Family Insurance Group, 260,000, southwest suburbs
National Marrow Donor Program, 250,000-300,000, outskirts of downtown Mpls.
Faegre Baker Daniels, 230,000, downtown Mpls.
Wells Fargo & Co., 200,000, downtown Mpls.
Prime Therapeutics 200,000, southwest suburbs
Kroll Ontrack Inc., 150,000-200,000
MoneyGram International Inc., 150,000-175,000
Metro State University, 150,000, west, southwest or northwest suburbs
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System, 150,000, west, southwest or northwest suburbs
Hennepin County Medical Center, 150,000, west, northwest or southwest markets
Sources: Jones Lang LaSalle Q2 2012 Office Highlights market report and July 2012 Cushman & Wakefield/NorthMarq Compass Report

It's sad how FEW of these firms are looking into downtown for office space....such a waste!

Also of particular note: the National Marrow Donor Program and HCMC in downtown! The former is actually on the low side, according to our other sources here on urbanmsp.com.

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Re: Office Market

Postby mattaudio » August 10th, 2012, 11:03 am

I really wish we'd see the end of major growth in suburban corporate campuses (at least the ones which require new interchanges, only accessible by car, etc.) It's really a shame companies still think this is what employees want. I've turned down gigs because they're at some corporate campus outside the beltway, and I'd rather work downtown (or, at worst, a short drive). As the recession eases and more employees have choices for their work, I think priorities will change and companies will wish they were downtown or in easily-accessible places.

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Nick
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Re: Office Market

Postby Nick » August 10th, 2012, 11:08 am

I really wish we'd see the end of major growth in suburban corporate campuses (at least the ones which require new interchanges, only accessible by car, etc.) It's really a shame companies still think this is what employees want. I've turned down gigs because they're at some corporate campus outside the beltway, and I'd rather work downtown (or, at worst, a short drive). As the recession eases and more employees have choices for their work, I think priorities will change and companies will wish they were downtown or in easily-accessible places.
Outside of the group of people on this forum, the vast majority of employees still prefer this set up. Enough well-dressed mid-20s Targetrons don't, which is great, but I know a lot of people six months out of college graduation who are already poo-pooing busses after using them extensively while in school.
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mattaudio
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Re: Office Market

Postby mattaudio » August 10th, 2012, 11:14 am

The problem with that mindset is embodied by this list... a friend of mine is looking to buy a townhome or something in E.P. since buying is cheaper than rent, but his company is on this list looking for new space. He assumes his company will always be in E.P. and that he can engineer a 5 minute commute. I actually work for another company on the list that seems to have office space everywhere (but especially downtown) but my strategy was to live in the core city so whether I find a job where I can take the bus downtown, or I have to drive to SLP or the Bloomington strip, I'm most likely to have a short and manageable commute.

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Nathan
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Re: Office Market

Postby Nathan » August 10th, 2012, 1:17 pm

It's proven that it's not just the people on this site who want this though. The second largest generation in the US right now are the MIllenials, and depending on where you look, 60%-80% of them prefer to live and work in an urban core. I feel like the twin cities are so car oriented that people are willing to do the car driving suburb thing if it pays off with the job, but I think many would prefer to head in, but have no reason to be vocal about it. (MN nice)

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Re: Office Market

Postby mplser » August 10th, 2012, 1:19 pm

It's proven that it's not just the people on this site who want this though. The second largest generation in the US right now are the MIllenials, and depending on where you look, 60%-80% of them prefer to live and work in an urban core. I feel like the twin cities are so car oriented that people are willing to do the car driving suburb thing if it pays off with the job, but I think many would prefer to head in, but have no reason to be vocal about it. (MN nice)
my mother works for target, and when they tried to move her office to the Brooklyn Park campus, believe me, she was VOCAL about it. She gets to stay downtown for now, though, because she stood up for herself.

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Re: Office Market

Postby mulad » August 10th, 2012, 11:26 pm

I suppose I'll walk the line this way -- There are lots of people today who are receptive to the ideas of urbanism, but it's easy for those ideas to get drowned out. I'm not sure that Millennials or any other group really have these thoughts rolling around in their heads much, but the groundwork seems to be there -- I was really surprised when I went to my 10-year high-school reunion to find that my Volkswagen Jetta was basically newest, nicest car in the group (except maybe for my real-estate agent classmate who drove a used Lexus). But while they weren't exactly sucked in by car culture -- car as status symbol -- I think many of them are still addicted to the idea of living out in the suburbs/exurbs/middle of nowhere.

But really, the decisions about where to buy are kind of made for them -- developers simply hadn't been putting up dense neighborhoods with well-connected streets. And it doesn't matter when employers seek out the cheapest land and the greatest incentives. Sure, that helps the company's bottom line for a few years, but I imagine the story changes if you calculate in the costs that get shoved onto employees who might have otherwise biked or taken transit, and money and land that gets consumed to deal with all of the cars the employees will need.

The Walk Score website does have a fairly nice "My Commutes" feature on their apartment search tab which shows how far away people can live from a particular job site and still get there within a specified period of time -- Obviously you want to maximize the radius and the number of people within that area in order to find the best workers, and downtown offers the best connectivity and greatest number of travel options. The images you get from that are some of the best arguments I've found for being centrally located.

Okay, here's a bit of a tangent...

Personally, a lot of what I'm seeking is just a return to the small-town life I knew as a kid, just amped up a fair bit so it isn't quite so boring: We had a grocery in the middle of town which I walked past every day on my way to school. There was a hardware store, a lumber yard, a small auto shop, a hairdresser, a bank, the town hall, and the post office all within about two blocks of each other. But, the town had been suburbanizing since the 1950s or earlier, and I was growing up during some of the last throes. During that time and since I left, the town has been turned inside out as cheap land on the edges sucked away the businesses and the school, and the result is as grotesque to me as a horror movie.

If those businesses had stayed and others had been encouraged to be clustered in the center of town rather than spaced out along the frontage road, there'd be a pretty hopping little downtown, probably rivaling many touristy destinations out there. Instead it just feels like the soul of the place has been ripped out.

For businesses big and small and cities big and small, decisions about location have big impacts. It clearly doesn't make sense for everyone to go downtown, but there are plenty of satellite areas in the core cities and in the suburbs that should be laid out in a much better fashion than what we've seen.

So, much as the proposed Apple headquarters out in Mountain View has been criticized and re-envisioned as an urban village of sorts, a company that's convinced they need to be in a suburban Twin Cities location should also be challenged to at least build something on a grid-like layout that can blend into existing or future neighborhoods of housing and retail rather than simply designing an island unto themselves.

4-d
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Re: Office Market

Postby 4-d » August 12th, 2012, 9:40 am

Okay, here's a bit of a tangent...

Personally, a lot of what I'm seeking is just a return to the small-town life I knew as a kid, just amped up a fair bit so it isn't quite so boring: We had a grocery in the middle of town which I walked past every day on my way to school. There was a hardware store, a lumber yard, a small auto shop, a hairdresser, a bank, the town hall, and the post office all within about two blocks of each other. But, the town had been suburbanizing since the 1950s or earlier, and I was growing up during some of the last throes. During that time and since I left, the town has been turned inside out as cheap land on the edges sucked away the businesses and the school, and the result is as grotesque to me as a horror movie.

If those businesses had stayed and others had been encouraged to be clustered in the center of town rather than spaced out along the frontage road, there'd be a pretty hopping little downtown, probably rivaling many touristy destinations out there. Instead it just feels like the soul of the place has been ripped out.
Are you from Hastings too? That is the way I feel about my home town.
^ 4-d

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Re: Downtown Office Market

Postby mulad » August 12th, 2012, 11:48 am

Byron, MN, just west of Rochester.

1200onthemall
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Re: Downtown Office Market

Postby 1200onthemall » October 18th, 2012, 1:18 pm

Toured of the Neurology HQ in the Mill District today, Amazing space and very well designed with incredible technology. A $20M project from top to bottom. This is a great addition to downtown Minneapolis.

Most of the executives are on the first floor with the top floor reserved as meeting-lunchroom space. Spectacular skyline views from the top floor, interesting views everywhere. They have enough expansion space to add 30% more staff, currently 140 people.

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Re: Downtown Office Market

Postby gahwi003 » December 3rd, 2012, 6:15 pm

Hopefully this is the right place for this. Sounds like FSN is relocating downtown in LaSalle Plaza. They had formally been across the river. Additionally, the article mentions a "giant LED wall" that is being built in China now. Does anyone know if this is going to be visible from street, inside the studio, or on top of LaSalle Plaza like the target building?

Article

Didier
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Re: Downtown Office Market

Postby Didier » December 3rd, 2012, 7:40 pm

I saw some FSN signs in the windows there the other day. Interesting development.

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Re: Downtown Office Market

Postby John » December 3rd, 2012, 8:10 pm

Hopefully this is the right place for this. Sounds like FSN is relocating downtown in LaSalle Plaza. They had formally been across the river. Additionally, the article mentions a "giant LED wall" that is being built in China now. Does anyone know if this is going to be visible from street, inside the studio, or on top of LaSalle Plaza like the target building?

Article
It's really a testament to the draw of the growing entertainment district on Hennepin Ave, and to the smart investment of building sports facilities located downtown.

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Nick
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Re: Downtown Office Market

Postby Nick » December 3rd, 2012, 8:11 pm

I just walked by this, and yeah there are FSN signs. But I'm 95 percent sure those have been there for a while?
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mullen
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Re: Downtown Office Market

Postby mullen » December 3rd, 2012, 8:32 pm

they have been doing shows from these new studios for about month now.

writruth
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Re: Downtown Office Market

Postby writruth » December 3rd, 2012, 8:46 pm

This is a welcome plus for the downtown core. Great to hear the head of FSN reference the vibrancy of being in the heart of the entertainment district. The location will make it easier for the network to broadcast "beauty shots" of the ever expanding Minneapolis cityscape.

min-chi-cbus
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Re: Downtown Office Market

Postby min-chi-cbus » December 4th, 2012, 8:53 am

I was JUST thinking about having a HUGE LED wall somewhere in downtown Minneapolis -- something that could take the new technology and innovation of today and make a new iconic place for people to gather, take pictures by, etc. downtown. Something like what's in Chicago's Millenium Park, but on a much larger scale. I think that blends technology with innovation with culture rather well, personally.

I was thinking of something on the scale of like 10-15 stories.....seriously humungous and iconic! The LEDs could obviously show anything, from landscapes or abstract art to people or pictures. It could also act like a giant mirror too -- something that could energize a crowd. I know Minneapolis isn't a very "showy" city but I thought this could be fun and different and bring people into the city who may never normally do so.

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Re: Downtown Office Market

Postby NickP » December 4th, 2012, 9:38 am

Where was FSN based before the move?


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