Federal Building & Post Office redevelopment speculation

[mattaudio]

Hey that's not as much as Wells Fargo sunk into the old Honeywell HQ / WF HMMC campus in the last 25 years, and now that's a sunk cost with much of the site likely to get redeveloped.

[Oreos&Milk]

I used to bank there back in the day before they closed down that credit union branch. Such a beautiful building that is so devastatingly under utilized it should be a crime!

It should be converted into mall of sorts... Main focus on a food hall, tons of outside seating next to the riverfront. Buy out the Downtown Market next door and pair a redevelopment as well. A big beautiful office tower with plenty of underground and above ground parking for tenants AND mall guests. (mall guests want free parking to go shop, that is what it is to ensure they visit downtown so be it)

Then remove the old parking ramp for a better redevelopment to connect the sidewalks to the riverfront. The new mall would then be able to be directly skyway connected. (hooray!) The Mall could house the farmers market during the colder months when having it on Nicollet Mall is to cold aka when it's freezing outside and produce is freezing. Maybe we could encourage the YWCA to move locations? Also maintain a working post office, just not letting it be a whole distribution center. Allow offices and retail spaces to tenants. Would love to see an actually mall developer involved. Okay maybe I'm getting a bit to delusional I get that..





Or at least just trying to lease out some of the old spaces on the inside to tenants that can sell food and open up the back patio to people to sit and enjoy their lunch. Line Great River Rd. with food trucks as well and seating and make this into a great place to gather and eat and enjoy the outdoors.

Just imagine those Views.. be like THIS, except with nicer tables and more "normal" trees!

[twincitizen]

One building that has caught my attention for years is the Paul Wellstone Federal Building, which I had the opportunity to tour recently. Despite occupying a full downtown block, there's not that much going on inside. It's mostly one story above ground with a small 2-story section along the 3rd Ave frontage, plus a full basement. The users are a passport facility occupying most of the main level, with a HUD office in the upper level (mostly vacant due to remote work). The passport office is a nice active use that brings people downtown during the day, but that office could really be located in pretty much any building with good public access and parking nearby. They may have some unique security/shipping & receiving needs, but I don't think it's anything too out of the ordinary that couldn't be nearly any place else.

I would really like to see this building sold to a developer in 5 years or so, following completion of Sherman's Harmonia / Washington Yards project across the street. The location is just too ideal for more housing, and with a full block to work with, I think they could keep enough of the existing facade to satisfy preservationists. I'd be fine just retaining the 2-story portion and facade along 3rd Avenue, and tearing down the rest of it. The Washington & 2nd St sides are nothing special, and 2nd Ave is just a parking lot, so I don't think my proposal is too anti-preservation. Getting a retail space at the Washington & 2nd Ave corner would be big. It's always going to be a challenge to make Washington Avenue a consistent compelling experience from Whole Foods down to 3rd Avenue due to all the non-existent frontages on the former ING / Washington Square buildings, but Sherman's project and this block would start closing that gap.

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... posal.html

The Public Buildings Reform Board recommended selling the Paul D. Wellstone Federal Building in downtown Minneapolis.
The century-old building has deferred maintenance costs of $6.79 million but could save taxpayers $21 million long-term.
The neoclassical building qualifies for historic tax credits that could finance conversion to another use.

While this conversation first started during the early-2025 DOGE-generated list of government buildings to dispose of, this is now coming from an independent board and the study was done by real estate brokerage JLL. The GSA would now have to adopt the board's findings and proceed with marketing the property for sale. Hopefully it doesn't get sold to a data center developer. I really want to see this block of Washington activated to help close the dead zone of zero storefronts between Whole Foods and 3rd Ave S.

[BikesOnFilm]

Any would-be data center developer would need to move quick because once the proposed zoning amendment for data centers is passed, they won’t be allowed to do data center operations on the first or second floor of a property downtown, nor would they be allowed to use a building solely as a data center.

Ultimately this property doesn’t seem like a good fit for that use in that context.