Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis moving headquarters to Dayton's Bluff neighborhood

A year after filing bankruptcy and months after selling part of its headquarters to the Minnesota Historical Society, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has found a new home: the former 3M Co. corporate office on St. Paul's East Side.

In an e-mail sent to archdiocese staff members Monday, the Rev. Charles Lachowitzer, moderator of the curia, wrote that he expects the archdiocese to move its central operations by late fall, if the lease is approved by the bankruptcy court, the archdiocese and the landlord. He said that final costs to renovate the facility will not be known until mid-May.

Part of the St. Paul Port Authority's Beacon Bluff Business Center, the 75,000-square-foot building in the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood was 3M Co.'s corporate headquarters campus from 1910 to 1962, when it moved its headquarters to Maplewood.

Lachowitzer wrote that he expects the archdiocese to move its central operations to the building by late fall, if the lease is approved by the bankruptcy court, the archdiocese and the landlord. He said theat final costs to removate the facility will not be known until mid-May.

"It is expected that this will be the new home for the archdiocese for at least the next 10 years," Lachowitzer said. "We are very excited about the new space, and particularly about the opportunity to have all of our staff under one roof."

The archdiocese sold the Monsignor Ambrose Hayden Center near the Cathedral of St. Paul to the Historical Society in November and is seeking to sell three other buildings near the cathedral. The buildings are being sold as part of the archdiocese filing bankruptcy in the aftermath of financial claims by victims of clergy sexual abuse.