MINNEAPOLIS-After a months of circling with other large officeblock seekers, Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly has become thefirst tenant to land downtown. The law firm has taken signed a12-year lease at the 730,000-square-foot Campbell Mithun Tower at222 S. Ninth St.

Capella University left the space in 2009 to expand to 400,000square feet at Capella Tower. Oppenheimer is moving from Plaza 7,the former Radisson Hotel at 45 7^th St. South, and RJMConstruction has been hired to complete a build-out of the space bysummer 2011, says Brent Robertson with NorthMarq. His companyrepresents building ownership, Principal Real Estate Investors, andmanages the property. Chris Rohrer with Jones Lang LaSallerepresented the tenant in the transaction.

Oppenheimer joins anchor tenants such as Campbell Mithun andBerkley Risk Administrators at the 42-story building, whichunderwent a $3.5 million remodel project in 2007, Robertson says.He says the 88% occupancy rate, thanks to the recent tenantsigning, is much better than the almost 20% vacancy in thedowntown. “I think we’re starting to see a slight uptick inactivity. There are a few large-block office tenants still looking,I think this was the first to land, and more will start signingspace,” he tells GlobeSt.com.