Cargill Fills Bulk of New 700,000-SF Complex

Tom Shaver, vice president of real estate development for Opus, tells GlobeSt.com that the company recently earned final PUD site plan approval. He says the 400,000-sf, 1950s warehouse has been demolished, and construction will start in the spring for Building B, a seven-story, 250,000-sf office tower, which will have a mid-2008 delivery. Construction on the five-story, 200,000-sf Building A will start soon after Building B is complete, he says, and will be complete in mid-2010. Cargill will occupy both buildings, which will be connected by a walkway.

Shaver says Opus is negotiating with Cargill to possibly take the space in the planned Building C, which will be 260,000 sf. "We had been looking at this site for a possible redevelopment after the city lost a deal with another company in 2001," he says. "We started reviewing this site in 1999, we had Best Buy as a customer and it was one of the sties they had shortlisted, but they chose Richfield for a 1.2-million-sf building. We were going to do a speculative office complex here; conditions warrant office space for this location in this market now. But we were fortunate enough to get a marquee tenant like Cargill that validates the project."

Cargill, which is based in Wayzata, is viewing this complex as a sort of secondary headquarters, Shaver says. He says a confidentiality agreement keeps him from saying how much it will cost to build the complex, but said the company had advertised lease rates for $16 to $17 per sf. Shaver handled the deal with Dave Menke. Kurt Knoff, John Ferlita and Brandon Megal with CB Richard Ellis served as Cargill's representatives.