City Center in Minneapolis sells for $320 million

The City Center complex in downtown Minneapolis has sold for $320 million, yet again breaking records for a single office asset sale in the city.

City Center, which is made up of the 51-story 33 South Sixth Street tower and three-level retail mall, was sold by HNA Property Holdings, a subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate HNA Group.

The new owner is identified as City Center 33 South Property LLC, according to the state electronic certificate of real estate value available Wednesday. Minneapolis-based Ryan Cos., which is the new manager of the property, is listed as the owner's local contact.

The owner is a foreign entity who is new to the Twin Cities market, said Jeff Steinke, vice president of real estate management at Ryan. Ryan has been asked to keep the company's full identity confidential, but several brokers with knowledge of the transaction said it was Samsung Life Insurance.

Renovation plans for the common area in the retail mall, including the entrances to Nicollet Mall, are in the works, Steinke said.

"We want to raise it to the standard of the new Nicollet Mall and improve the customer and pedestrian experience," he said.

City Center is considered one of the premier class A skyscrapers in downtown Minneapolis, sitting along Nicollet between 6th and 7th streets.

While the total sale price for the complex is a record, with about 1.6 million square feet it works out to a price of about $200 a square foot. That's higher than Capella Tower, which sold earlier this year for a total of $255 million, or about $182 per square foot.

However, the sale of the Fifty South Sixth building, which closed last December for $258.5 million, worked out to about $375 per square foot.

HNA purchased City Center in late 2016 for $315 million. Target Corp. is the complex's major office tenant.

Nicole Norfleet • 612-673-4495 Twitter: @nicolenorfleet