Downtown Minneapolis Office Market

[uptownbro]

I know they added an extra "week" to there HQ event but that was announced months ago. Did your contacts give any details

[BikesOnFilm]

Well, it finally happened - City Center owner defaults on their loan.

Hopefully we can speed run the obligatory "Downtown Minneapolis is doomed" news cycle this time around and skip to the part where a local group of investors buys the property for a song and uses the savings to lower lease rates and commit to a property turnaround/modernization the underwater owners were never going to even attempt.

[Silophant]

Hopefully Hempl still has $15M or so of free cash floating around their bank account.

[twincitizen]

The entire 3rd floor of Gaviidae Common can be yours for just $2.6 million: https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/651-Nic ... /31643272/

Edit: yep, it's the former offices of United Properties.

[BikesOnFilm]

Am I the odd one out for only just hearing the phrase "office condo" for the first time, or is this an unusual way to structure the ownership of office space?

[amiller92]

The entire 3rd floor of Gaviidae Common can be yours for just $2.6 million: https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/651-Nic ... /31643272/

Former United Properties space, right?

[minntransplant]

Am I the odd one out for only just hearing the phrase "office condo" for the first time, or is this an unusual way to structure the ownership of office space?

I don't think it's very common. The only recent example I'm aware of is the building that's under construction at Nicollet and 31st (replacing the burned down Wells Fargo). It will include commercial condos on the ground floor. Afro Deli will be one of the condo owners. It seems like a nice model that helps small businesses own their space and build wealth over time.

[Blaisdell Greenway]

Office condos appear to be more common in the suburbs, especially among drive up strip mall style developments
https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/1701-17 ... /35582008/

[Silophant]

The ground and skyway levels of The Crossings, at 2nd and Washington, are commercial condos. I've assumed that's what's led to the more interesting business mix (electrical contractor, Oromo TV studio, etc) than the average downtown tower has.

[uptownbro]

Target is calling back to office workers of multiple divisions. Little details per the Star tribune outside of "multiple" days per week.

[BikesOnFilm]

Disappointing for the workers who demonstrated that companies could be far more efficient focusing on outcomes versus making sure people were sitting in an arbitrary spot for arbitrary reasons, and I will laugh in the face of anyone who thinks this will have any effect towards repairing Target's self-inflicted woes as of late, but it's surely going to be good news for downtown and Metro Transit.

[COLSLAW5]

Disappointing for the workers who demonstrated that companies could be far more efficient focusing on outcomes versus making sure people were sitting in an arbitrary spot for arbitrary reasons, and I will laugh in the face of anyone who thinks this will have any effect towards repairing Target's self-inflicted woes as of late, but it's surely going to be good news for downtown and Metro Transit.

I am not going to say that every job should be in the office 5 days a week but to say that target has demonstrated they can be more efficient at home is just not true. Long before their fumble with the DEI roll back they have been floundering while Walmart is growing. Many jobs work better when you can run into someone from another team and have a quick chat or treat your coworkers better because you are not sitting behind a screen. Your job pays you for the small talk because that is how you develop new ideas and refine processes. That is something that just can't be full recreated through a video call. We are constantly losing places to interact with people who are different from us like the mall or a local coffee shop and not losing the workplace is good.

Also if your job can be done remote in America it can be done remote in India for half the cost.

Sorry rant over

[BikesOnFilm]

Does it make more sense that Target is losing marketshare to Walmart because people aren't sitting in cubes and meeting rooms, or because the average American's paycheck has remained stagnant while the cost of everything has increased substantially? The entire market position of Target has been "pay a bit more to avoid having to go to Walmart." If budgets are tighter, aesthetics take a backseat to value.

Like there are arguments to be made for in-person work versus remote but you're never going to convince me that a buyer who spends all day on the phone with third party companies who aren't in your building needs to be in the HQ to be effective. If people aren't cordial to members of other teams over Slack because they aren't physically in the same building as one another, that's a personnel problem. Plenty of matrixed organizations that have teams spread out over the country have figured this out.

But again, it's good for downtown and Metro Transit, regardless of how any of us think about the actual value of it.

[Didier]

There are some strong opinions out there about remote work, and I recognize it’s definitely the best method for some people. But IMO it’s becoming pretty clear that companies run better when employees are in the office at least some of the time. It’s also a huge detriment to young employees to not have any in-person experience and relationships as they’re trying to learn the ropes and figure out what it means to be a professional at something.

[rhettcarlson]

Target calls entire commercial unit back to headquarters three days a week

https://www.startribune.com/target-retu ... /601417294

Some real momentum on RTO in recent weeks with Ameriprise, UHG, 3M all going 4 day, and now Target with 3 day on "one of its largest business units". Wonder what percentage of the 7,100 downtown workers that is.

[Silophant]

Target is working with the city and Metro Transit to reopen more bus lines and improve parking safety, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Curious what this means - just asking MT to focus more on the express routes for the August pick, or are they actually chipping some money in?

[angrysuburbanite]

I'm not sure but I've been poking around the schedules on Pantograph and it looks like the Key Express Network is being introduced in August. I'm sure route 765's reintroduction is directly because of Target. But I doubt they'd actually be willing to chip in funding.
(quick edit: I found the actual August changes and posted them in the general public transit thread. Needless to say it is very commuter-oriented.)

[twincitizen]

Finance & Commerce has an update on office vacancy around the region. You might be able to read it as a free article: https://finance-commerce.com/2025/10/tw ... y-q3-2025/

No change to the overall office vacancy rate, holding at 22%. Downtown cores of Minneapolis and St. Paul sit at 30.8% and 39.5% vacant.

"Issues persist for Class B properties, with the vacancy rate for the class rising 1.7% since this time last year to 25.9%. It is the class with the greatest amount of square footage available by a wide margin, with Class A and Class C having about 6 million square feet and 3 million square feet available, respectively. Class B has around 13.9 million square feet. Michael Gelfman, an executive vice president for Colliers, said that the “existential crisis” currently facing the Class B office market has not improved and he said that it will not improve until “functionally obsolete or older Class B” properties are gotten rid of."

What are some examples of Class B office in Minneapolis that have not seen major renovations recently and could be candidates for demolition? I'd guess that if the apartment development market was more active, we'd probably be seeing more proposals to tear down Class B office space. Maybe not so much downtown Minneapolis, but I could see some of the older Class B properties along 494 and around the Southdale/France corridor being quickly replaced with apartments.

[Sacrelicio]

Does it make more sense that Target is losing marketshare to Walmart because people aren't sitting in cubes and meeting rooms, or because the average American's paycheck has remained stagnant while the cost of everything has increased substantially? The entire market position of Target has been "pay a bit more to avoid having to go to Walmart." If budgets are tighter, aesthetics take a backseat to value.

Like there are arguments to be made for in-person work versus remote but you're never going to convince me that a buyer who spends all day on the phone with third party companies who aren't in your building needs to be in the HQ to be effective. If people aren't cordial to members of other teams over Slack because they aren't physically in the same building as one another, that's a personnel problem. Plenty of matrixed organizations that have teams spread out over the country have figured this out.

But again, it's good for downtown and Metro Transit, regardless of how any of us think about the actual value of it.

[Didier]

IMO what we learned from the pandemic is that 40 hours in the physical office each week isn't necessary for most jobs, but most companies operate better, onboard more effectively, and have better culture if there's some in-person time.

In Target's case, it seems very plausible that having a CEO living out of state and a fully remote workforce contributed to the breakdown in culture and efficiency there. Probably not the entire reason, but people are kidding themselves if they think "everyone remote" is the best approach for most companies.