Hines Purchases Minneapolis Office for $69M

MINNEAPOLIS-Cargill has sold its 254,915-square-foot building here at 9320 Excelsior in a $69.5 million sale-leaseback, sources say. Hines Global REIT confirmed that it purchased the building, one of three offices in the Excelsior Crossing complex.

The 9320 Excelsior property is a seven-story building, built in 2010, at the northeast corner of Highway 169 and Excelsior Boulevard. Cargill will continue to lease the property, and Houston-based Hines will take over property management responsibilities.

Cargill also leases space in the two other buildings, all developed by Opus. The company, a producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services, had asked Opus to speed up the opening of the building to allow the consolidation of Cargill’s offices throughout the Twin Cities. Three years ago, the entire complex was valued at about $150 million.

The Hines non-listed REIT commenced its $3.5 billion initial public offering in August 2009 and has raised more than $900 million to invest in properties across the globe. The REIT now owns 12 sites.

The trust has plans to continue acquiring assets various cities. Edmund Donaldson, SVP of Hines, tells GlobeSt.com that he expects transaction volume to increase moderately in 2012 from last year, absent external shocks like further unwinding of the Euro zone “We expect a continued focus on core assets in primary markets, but with volume and pricing picking up in secondary markets and in assets with less of a core profile,” he says.