Opus closes on purchase of former Target campus

Rendering courtesy the Opus Group

The Opus Group has closed on its $22.1 million purchase of Target Corp.'s former west corporate campus along Interstate 394 in Minneapolis, according to a recently available electronic certificate of real estate value.

Earlier this year, the group announced plans to revamp the nine-story building and surrounding 24 acres into a multi-tenant office development. Medical device company Tactile Medical has confirmed it will help anchor the new development.

Tactile Medical, which currently offices in the Crown Center in northeast Minneapolis, will move 250 workers into 100,000 square feet, about a third of the space at the property, next fall. The new office development was appealing because it's only about five miles from its current location yet there are more amenities, said Jerry Mattys, chief executive of Tactile Medical.

"What we loved about the place were the amenities," he said. "The plan includes a staffed cafeteria. There is a health club within the building. There's beautiful grounds."

Tactile Medical has almost 500 employees, half of which work from home and won't be in the new offices. The company has been at the Crown Center for about ten years and has outgrown its space and had to move its operations and research and development teams to New Brighton, where they will stay.

In addition to converting the former Target Corp campus into a multi-tenant space, Opus will also modernize the building with added windows on the western side to afford for more daylight and views of the Minneapolis skyline, a new cafeteria and a rooftop deck with clubhouse. The renovations are expected to be finished by the spring of 2019.

"We're excited to transform this iconic building and create a new offering in the dynamic I-394 office submarket," said Phil Cattanach, senior director of real estate development for Opus, in a statement. "This unique development will meet the demand for premier office space in the submarket."

Opus will be handling the development and designed the building. Perkins+Will is providing interior design consulting services for the project. CBRE brokers Paige Rickert and David Marschinke are representing Opus in leasing the building and represented Target in the sale. RSP Architects is designing Tactile Medical's space.

The campus has been empty since 2016 when Target moved 1,300 employees from the site to the company's expanded Brooklyn Park campus.