Bloomington-based
United Properties has a $40 million plan to turn the historic Ford Center in the Warehouse District downtown Minneapolis into an exemplar of sustainability.
The 1913 building, once a vertical assembly plant for the Ford Motor Company, "will be the crown jewel of the Warehouse District, setting the new standard for renovated historic office properties in the Twin Cities," a prepared statement reads.
Bill Katter, senior vice president with United Properties, says the company's goal is to go for "silver" status through the
LEED certification program, which is a high mark from the national standard for green building.
It helps that the building is so close to the light rail transit line with several more trains to come, he says.
The group is planning to install high-efficiency mechanical systems and implement water conservation strategies, while taking advantage of regional materials, according to Katter. Its windowline, the building's "most significant and distinguishing characteristic," according to the prepared statement, will be restored and not sent to landfill, he says.
Additionally, the 5th Street entrance will be reminiscent of the original, while the lower level will have 25 parking spaces plus a fitness center, Finance and Commerce
reports.
HGA Architects, which will do the design work on the project, is moving from a building a few blocks away into the Ford Center, where it will take up about 80,000 square feet of the 270,000 square feet total.
Jason Sandquist, a brokerage associate at
Adam Commercial who writes about the Minneapolis real estate market on the group's blog,
Positive Absorption, makes the point that the building's renovation can be seen as "one of the first economic impacts that the new Twins ballpark has brought to the area," following several years of a slowdown in development.
Source: Bill Katter, United Properties
Writer: Anna Pratt