Aetna Signs 43,000-SF Lease at Metropoint

Kelly Gibbel senior asset manager at Metropoint, says she can't say the specific lease rate for this deal. She says the average lease at the four-building, one-million-sf complex is between $12 to $16 per sf. "Once Aetna's in their building, it will be 63% occupied, with still the first floor available," Gibbel tells GlobeSt.com. "The whole park is at 80% occupied, we're pretty excited about that." She works for BPG Properties Ltd., which acquired Interchange Office Park in August for $86 million and renamed it Metropoint.

She says the property is undergoing a $10-million capital improvement project, expected to be complete by the end of this year. For the exterior, she says BPG is refocusing all the entrances from facing east, away from the road, to face Ford Road, to "come into the complex and give it identification," Gibbel says. "We're also putting in new lobbies, and retail focused on the everyday worker, such as a café and a coffee kiosk. We just put in a new conference center, it was finished last month and it's booked all the time."

The property consists of four office buildings on 20 acres, including a 20-story tower of 360,000 sf, two eight-story buildings of 170,000 sf each and a 10-story building at 200,000 sf. Situated on the northwest corner of Interstate 394 and Highway 169, the property is across from the world headquarters of General Mills Inc. in St. Louis Park. Allianz Life Insurance vacated about 107,000 sf of the 170,000-sf North Building in February.

At 75% leased when it was purchased, Metropoint's major tenants include Wells Fargo, Prudential Financial and Corporate Benefit Services of America. Other new leases at the park since August include space for Plus Relocation; Cummings, Keegan & Co. and Epicor.