United Properties has bought the first two floors of Gaviidae Common and will lease the highly visible retail space on the Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis to Walgreens.
United Properties buys Saks Off 5th space on Nicollet Mall; Walgreens to move in
The key retail spot on Nicollet Mall, purchased by United Properties, will likely replace its existing downtown drugstore.
January 27, 2015 at 3:40PM
The building is currently home to Saks Off 5th, which will close next month. Bloomington-based United Properties purchased 50,000 square feet — all of floors one and two — for an undisclosed amount Wednesday afternoon, the real estate company said. The seller, New York-based Nightingale Properties, has sliced up the five-story complex and parking space to sell off in chunks.
The sale of the ground-level Saks space at the corner of Nicollet Mall and S. 7th Street triggered the tenant agreement with Walgreen Co. The Deerfield, Ill.-based drugstore chain signed a lease this week for 38,000 square feet on floor one and part of floor two, which is connected to the skyway.
Walgreens will use about 23,000 square feet for the store, said Phil Caruso, a Walgreens spokesman.
He wouldn't provide details other than to call the new space "a higher-end, marquee" store format.
Nicollet Mall is already home to a Walgreens, which will likely be closed when the new one down the street opens.
"Typically when a new store opens that close by, the other will close and everything will transfer over, including the prescription records," Caruso said.
United spokeswoman Jessie Timmerman said the remaining 12,000 square feet that the company purchased will be remodeled for new retail use by July 2015, but she declined to comment on possible retailers.
United Properties is the real estate investment firm under the Pohlad Cos. umbrella. The developer has been active recently in the downtown Minneapolis market with several new office buildings near Target Field in the North Loop neighborhood. Last year, United purchased the defunct Neiman Marcus store in Gaviidae Common II at 5th Street and Nicollet Mall for $5.5 million, then turned around and sold it to CenterPoint Energy Inc.
Kristen Leigh Painter • 612-673-4767
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