MINNEAPOLIS—The RBC Plaza has beenone of this city's top office properties since itopened, but when KBS Real Estate Investment TrustIII acquired it last year for $118.1 million, companyofficials still felt that significant renovations were needed.Perhaps most important was the transformation of an adjacentfour-story retail mall, formerly known as the GaviidaeCommon II, into an integral part of the 40-story,678,045-square-foot building. The third and fourth floors wererecreated as modern office space, the rest into building amenities.KBS has now filled the fourth floor with one tenant, as well assigning another group of new tenants for the tower.

“The tower has always been well-positioned,” SonjaDusil, Cushman & Wakefield |NorthMarq's senior director-brokerage services, whorepresents the building, tells GlobeSt.com. However, the four-storymall, and the types of retail it had, “did not work in downtownMinneapolis anymore. It had a very heavy, 80's feel.”

But modern office workers now expect far more amenities at classA office buildings, and buying the mall alongside the towerpresented KBS with an opportunity. The façade was modernized, theinterior transformed into a new lobby for the RBC Plaza, and thelower levels will now provide plaza tenants with a fitness centerand locker rooms, a conference center, and other amenities. “Theseare the norm now and having them strengthens and solidifies thebuilding's position in the class A market,” she adds. The structurewill still have retail for building tenants such as aCaribou Coffee, a convenience store and otheroutlets. “We just did not want to create another food court.”