Perkins & Will to Lease 21,000 SF in Essex Building on Nicollet Mall

MINNEAPOLIS-Perkins & Will, Chicago-based architects, plans to lease 21,000 sf of space in the Essex Building, an old office building on Nicollet Mall in Downtown Minneapolis that was bought by Ryan Cos. last year for about $3 million. Ryan is spending an additional $2 million to $3 million to fix up the 53,000-sf building, says company vice president Collin Barr.

The Essex is on the east side of Nicollet Mall across from three huge development projects Ryan has either recently completed or has under construction on the west side between Seventh and 10th streets: Target Plaza North and South, the 1.8-million-sf headquarters complex for the Minneapolis-based Target Corp.; 900 Nicollet, an office-retail complex that will house Retek Corp. and a Downtown Target store; and therecently opened one-million-sf US Bancorp Tower that is headquarters for US Bancorp and Piper Jaffray, its securities subsidiary.