The third tallest building in downtown Minneapolis is up for sale. And it's coming to the market at a bargain price.
The 57-story Wells Fargo Tower on 7th Street is expected to sell for less than $120 million after its current owners bought it for $314 million back in 2019.
That information is according to a report in Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal.
The building was erected in 1988 and was the second tallest in Minneapolis at the time (behind the IDS Center). In 1985, the Norwest Corporation’s banking headquarters was destroyed by a horrific fire. Now known as the Wells Fargo Center, the art deco-inspired building contains a full-block in downtown Minneapolis and houses a 100-foot-high domed ceiling rotunda on one side and a formal lobby on the other.
It was designed by Cesar Pelli. The 775 foot tall building contains 1,105,249 square feet of office space. It's known for being brilliantly lit at night usually glowing golden in the center of the city's skyline.
The precipitous decline price is another example of commercial office space values plummeting post-COVID with the trend toward working from home.
Axios is reporting that more than 31% of all downtown Minneapolis office space is vacant, as companies continue to trend towards a hybrid work model. That means downsizing their offices. Recently, Ameriprise announced they are consolidating its workers to a nearby building and eliminating 850,000 square feet of space.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said last summer that downtown is adjusting to it's "new normal" and starting the process of converting empty office and retail space into apartments.