urbanMSP

No, I think their CEO quite enjoys being the real mayor of St. Paul

Sounds like the Ecolab move to the Travelers tower is going to happen.

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_ ... operations

I have got mixed feelings about this. Sounds like they will be abandoning all three of their buildings on Wabasha to consolidate into one tower. So essentially we are trading one vacant building, somewhat on the periphery of downtown, for three vacant buildings right in the core. Hopefully they get occupied quickly by someone else, converted to housing, etc.

This article popped up a couple days ago saying that Green Tree Servicing/Walter Investment Management Corp. is moving 800 workers into 180 East 5th, the former Railroad and Bank Building. 600 are coming from Landmark Towers (the building just south of the Saint Paul Hotel), 200 from Lawson Commons, and the PiPress says a couple dozen are moving from Eden Prairie.

Once the move is done, 180 East 5th is going to be 97% occupied, but that obviously opens up a significant amount of space up on St. Peter Street.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/b ... oving.html
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_ ... own-office

That's great news! I've always liked that building; I remember being impressed by it even as a child when my mom used to work there until BNSF pulled out of their headquarters there in 1996.

As far as Ecolab, what will be their "old" tower is so iconic that I can't imagine it would be empty for very long -- though the interior probably could and should be upgraded. I do wonder about the Traveler's Tower / soon to be Ecolab tower and how it will affect downtown skyway businesses. Currently, there aren't many quick food options that are incredibly close, apart from Mickey's. How will this affect skyway businesses?

Walking by the old Traveler's tower yesterday showed the Traveler's sign on top, but on the front entrance pavilion it says Ecolab. Not sure if Ecolab has downsized the number of employees, or if the Travelers tower is equal or greater than their current square footage. Their move will leave a huge hole in the CBD. I know a few retail/service establishments that did not renew their leases due to the lose of the Ecolab employees and the closed Macy's skywalk. Ecolabs's two current towers are a lot of square footage to fill. Will be interesting to see how long it takes to get takers for the space in those two buildings.

Looks like Ecolab has bought the Traveler's Tower. They appear to be looking long term as the Traveler's Tower is approximately 880,000 where as the 3 towers they are currently in are 460,000 SF combined. The CEO says they are looking forward to having all DT employees under one roof. Ecolab has an Eagan campus too, but they have said nothing about bring those employees to DT. The fate of the 460,000SF that they are vacating is still up in the air as far has what will be happening to it.

I believe that the 19 story Corporate Tower and the 6 story communication builds are owned by Ecolab, the University tower is all rental space from a separate building owner. Not sure if those buildings are for sale or what their status is.

This was covered a few months ago in the St. Paul office thread.

And the thread is now merged.

This article popped up a couple days ago saying that Green Tree Servicing/Walter Investment Management Corp. is moving 800 workers into 180 East 5th, the former Railroad and Bank Building. 600 are coming from Landmark Towers (the building just south of the Saint Paul Hotel), 200 from Lawson Commons, and the PiPress says a couple dozen are moving from Eden Prairie.

Furthermore, Cray moved its entire programming tools division to 180 East 5th to make room for new employees in Galtier. I now work in the same building my wife's grandfather worked in.

Mario down at Pizza Andrea has been regaling me with tales of Galtier building management. They tried to kick him out. He fought and won, for now. They're still trying to get him out. He and his lawyer can't figure out why. The only thing that makes sense to me is they want to shut down the food court and avoid whatever extra code requirements having a food court entails. Mario is actively looking for other space. According to him, the building owners are way behind on their taxes and are generally in over their heads. He expects chapter 11 if they can't sell.

Ecolab just placed their sign on the tower.

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_ ... e=Facebook

Now how long will the rest of their old campus sit empty before they find tenants to fill that space. While one hole get filled, ( Macy's), another is created, Ecolab's old campus. Macy''s killed the skyway traffic for sure. But the lose of Ecolab's workers to that section of skyway is just as bad. Know of a few places that did not resign leases due to the exodus.

Well, the old "Ecolab Communications Center" is ripe for condo conversion by the redevelopers of the Pioneer Press tower, with a new shared lobby built between it serving both facilities. I'll keep bringing up this killer idea until it happens.

Well, the old "Ecolab Communications Center" is ripe for condo conversion by the redevelopers of the Pioneer Press tower, with a new shared lobby built between it serving both facilities. I'll keep bringing up this killer idea until it happens.

That would get rid of about 10-13% of the vacant space. Now what do we do with the other 87%?

I didn't know that was my responsibility :-p

Has there been any successful conversion of mid-century glass curtain wall office buildings to residential?

What about Cloud 9 Sky Flats in Hopkins? That's a newer building, but it at least looks glass on the outside. Not sure if it's actually glass curtain wall or not though.

This listing: http://www.minnesotaloftsandcondos.com/ ... tails.html
Has a picture of an exterior wall, I guess that doesn't count as glass curtain then does it, just a wall with a huge window.

Though Cloud 9 Sky Flats wasn't necessarily "successful" -- wasn't it part of the downfall of Jerry Trooien?

I know very little about it, other than I saw it on a drive through the area for an Urban Studies class and I actually know of 2 people that have bought there.

Also depends on what you mean by successful. I'm guessing in this context Cloud 9 doesn't count, because I'm guessing MIkey's query was about how to successfully subdivide a glass curtain wall because how do you build a wall all the way to the glass and seal it.

I had an old boss who lived at Reflections in Bloomington Central Station, a condo building with glass curtain wall. It can be done.

Is there a current market for it on Wabasha? Not sure. But other condos on Wabasha seem to do ok.

Well reflections was built as condos though, so it was designed for it from the start.