From the ground up, the SPS Tower in downtown Minneapolis is changing the way in-office work looks after the COVID-19 pandemic took employees out of their downtown offices and left questions about whether or not they would eventually return.
"Shortly after Sumitomo purchased the building, we were studying ways to make improvements like everybody else was," said Jim Montez, who's responsible for leasing the SPS Tower spaces as part of his role with Transwestern. "And then, the pandemic hit. People started working from home and working differently. We paused what we were thinking about and as we saw some light at the end of the tunnel, we thought about what the new workplace looked like."
Ideas for updates and improvements in and outside the building were inspired by work done previously in the North Loop. That's evident in the outdoor putting green, green space, bags tournaments, and several social elements that get people out of the office and into fresh air.
"What we learned was employers or management was looking for ways to get their people back in the office with carrots and not sticks," Montez said. "We took things from other projects to create this environment of this indoor and outdoor space to create this ecosystem that employees get excited about."
One of the most recent additions to the SPS Tower's skyway level is frgmnt Coffee which opened in early March. The location is frgmnt's fifth, but their first in the skyway.
"I think we were attracted to working with a team that we had a relationship with in the past," said frgmnt co-owner Sarah Roehl. "We saw the skyway was coming back to life after being dark for those years. We were keeping our eye for the right opportunity and it just all clicked when we came and looked at the spot, met the team involved, and everybody was just really excited."
There's a three-phase renovation happening on the building's skyway level which Montez eyes as another key way to attract prospective tenants while retaining those currently in the building.
"Walking through this building a few years ago, it was a little quiet and a little sleepy," he said. "Now you walk through there today and half of the seats in that area are full. We've got a massive construction project happening in the atrium and people are still wanting to use that space."
The downtown Minneapolis skyway spans 9.5 miles making it one of the most utilized pieces of infrastructure in the city. With that comes an opportunity to establish a business catering to not only those living downtown, but workers and visitors throughout the year.
"We've seen quite a few things pop-up into skyway locations," said Lisa Middag, senior director of economic development with the Minneapolis Downtown Council and Downtown Improvement District. "The skyway is a beloved institution in both Minneapolis and St. Paul. We recognize it as an amenity that's here to stay so trying to address the opportunities with the turnover and types of retail that can be successful downtown right now provides an opportunity for other things."
According to Middag, the skyway business occupancy level is around 73 percent with nearly 700 open businesses. The foot traffic returning to downtown since 2020 has been evident for frgmnt even after just a few short weeks in the skyway.
"There's very clearly a healthy presence in the middle of the week while Monday and Friday seem to be a moving target, but there are still people here," added co-owner Ben Ben Banse. "I think with the project the SPS Tower has been trying to build will bring people back. Humans are social creatures and want to be around people and the energy of a workplace."
While traditional retail stores have scaled back their presence throughout the skyway, there are still a number of places to eat, find coffee, and there are even daycares and barbers.
Middag believes the Tuesday through Thursday business model could be appealing for already-established businesses looking to expand their footprint.
"If you look at downtown offices, there's a lot of strength in that timeframe, but maybe you don't want a business that's with you all the time, forever. Having it kind of intensified in that narrower timespan, maybe that's what works for you. I think a lot of commercial property owners are ready to make a deal. So part of it is part of that opportunity that it represents and the appeal."
At the SPS Tower, the work goes beyond adding a coffee shop and sprawling tenant lounges that sky high above the downtown Minneapolis skyline.
Spec suites spanning the 19th and 20th floors offer pre-built office space that allows companies to be flexible with the layouts.
"About 50,000 square feet of prebuilt office space that we took our experience and created smaller tenant spaces for smaller companies," Montez said. "We've got two of them leased and five remaining. We're in active negotiations with four of those spaces, so we could be out soon."
The tenant lounges are nothing to bat an eye at, either. The sprawling spaces feature a number of different seating options, podcast rooms, games, and even beer on tap.
"Our people love coming to this building," Montez said. "The property management staff is very responsive and the ownership is very solid. They bought the building in 2019 and paid cash, so there's no debt. We hear about other building owners having financial problems trying to resolve lender situations. We don't have that problem here. The owners are asking about what the tenants want and it's that forward thinking and long-term commitment that has allowed us to invest in the property that way we have."
Several other projects are planned over the next few months at the SPS Tower that will look to further enhance the progress that's already been made.
There's hope that further investments along the skyway will continue to attract more workers back to the office beyond the current Tuesday through Thursday norm.
"We're open for business," Middag said. "We're seeing traffic increase and have a lot of unique spaces where cool things could happen. If I were looking for an interesting place to go with my business, I might look at this space, and we want to talk with those folks. I can connect those folks, we can find a space, and there are deals to be had. It's a good time for opportunity."