A joint venture of Cross Ocean Partners, Neuberger Berman Special Situations client funds and Onward Investors has acquired Wells Fargo Center, the third-tallest building in Minneapolis. Starwood Capital Group previously owned the 57-story, 1.2 million-square-foot high-rise, according to CommercialEdge.
The asset traded before in April 2019, when Starwood acquired it from Hines Interests for $313.6 million, the same source shows. After the acquisition, Starwood implemented several building upgrades.
The Class A skyscraper was developed in 1987, after a former building at the site was destroyed in the largest fire in U.S. history at the time. The high-rise became Norwest Corp.’s headquarters, a company that has later merged with Wells Fargo.
The LEED Gold-certified property features floorplates ranging between 11,000 and 30,707 square feet. Amenities include a fitness center, wellness rooms and a communal lounge, coworking spaces and focus rooms, as well as a conference center with training rooms.
Located in the city’s downtown at 90 S. 7th St., the transit-oriented building was 62 percent leased at the time of sale, with tenants including BMO Capital Markets, Jones Day and KPMG.
Minneapolis’s recent office activity
Minneapolis’ office investment volume in the third quarter of this year reached $105 million, with sales in suburban areas accounting for most of the transactions, according to a CBRE report. The rolling four-quarter sales activity totaled nearly $524 million. Additionally, the market’s vacancy rate at the end of the third quarter clocked in at 23.9 percent.
In February, Ryan Cos. agreed to purchase a large portion of the Thomson Reuters campus in Eagan, Minn. The deal involved 179 acres of the 263-acre complex, including a 1.1 million square-foot office building, three data centers and 90 acres of undeveloped land.