Minneapolis

Owner of Rand Tower in Minneapolis wants to convert it into a hotel

Plans to create short-term offices fizzled and a different idea rose

By Nicole Norfleet

February 23, 2018 at 3:02AM

Less than a year after buying it, the owners of the Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis are planning to transform the Art Deco office building into a boutique hotel.

Maven Real Estate Partners wants to begin $60 million worth of renovations on the 26-story building on the corner of Marquette Avenue and S. 6th Street if city regulators and historic preservationists allow it. "It's a perfect location and a perfect building for an iconic Minneapolis hotel," said Nick Peterson, director of acquisitions at Maven.

The building was 23 percent vacant when Maven bought it for $18.7 million last summer. It began to reposition the building for office tenants seeking short-term, flexible work space but later abandoned that idea.

Peterson said the "highest, best use" of the Rand Tower was "clearly hotel." Maven is working with ESG Architects to design the hotel and still needs city approvals to move forward.

The hotel is planned to emphasize the history of the building, which dates back to 1929. Rand Tower was built by Rufus Rand, a pilot in WWI who was a member of the family that owned the Minneapolis Gas Co.

The building, which has distinctive features like terrazzo floors in the lobby and ornamental carvings over its entrances — one features Mercury, the Roman god of merchants and travelers, holding planes — is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Twin Cities hotel market cooled down in 2017, after a flurry of recent new hotels continued to be absorbed into the market.

In downtown, revenue per available room, or RevPAR, fell 9.4 percent to $105.88 in the third quarter of last year compared to a year earlier, according to CBRE Hotels, the hospitality division of the CBRE commercial real estate firm. That was close to its 2014 level.

However, the Super Bowl earlier this month was a boon for many area hotels especially the ones in Minneapolis. RevPAR is expected to tick up this year, led by hotels at the high end of the pricing scale.

Nicole Norfleet • 612-673-4495

Twitter: @nicolenorfleet


The Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis.
The Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis. (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
The Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis entrance to the skyway.
The Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis entrance to the skyway. (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
The Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis. ] GLEN STUBBE ï glen.stubbe@startribune.com Thursday, February 22, 2018 The 26-story Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis was completed in 1929. Much of the building is covered in Art Deco ornamentation with an aviation theme. The sculpture in the lobby is Wings by Oskar J. W. Hansen.
The Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis. ] GLEN STUBBE ï glen.stubbe@startribune.com Thursday, February 22, 2018 The 26-story Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis was completed in 1929. Much of the building is covered in Art Deco ornamentation with an aviation theme. The sculpture in the lobby is Wings by Oskar J. W. Hansen. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
The Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis. ] GLEN STUBBE ï glen.stubbe@startribune.com Thursday, February 22, 2018 The 26-story Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis was completed in 1929. Much of the building is covered in Art Deco ornamentation with an aviation theme. The sculpture in the lobby is Wings by Oskar J. W. Hansen.
The Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis. ] GLEN STUBBE ï glen.stubbe@startribune.com Thursday, February 22, 2018 The 26-story Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis was completed in 1929. Much of the building is covered in Art Deco ornamentation with an aviation theme. The sculpture in the lobby is Wings by Oskar J. W. Hansen. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Art Deco decoration in the ground floor revolving door. The Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis. ] GLEN STUBBE • glen.stubbe@startribune.com Thursday, February 22, 2018 The 26-story Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis was completed in 1929. Much of the building is covered in Art Deco ornamentation with an aviation theme. The sculpture in the lobby is Wings by Oskar J. W. Hansen.
Art Deco decoration in the ground floor revolving door. The Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis. ] GLEN STUBBE • glen.stubbe@startribune.com Thursday, February 22, 2018 The 26-story Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis was completed in 1929. Much of the building is covered in Art Deco ornamentation with an aviation theme. The sculpture in the lobby is Wings by Oskar J. W. Hansen. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
The Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis entrance to the skyway. ] GLEN STUBBE • glen.stubbe@startribune.com Thursday, February 22, 2018 The 26-story Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis was completed in 1929. Much of the building is covered in Art Deco ornamentation with an aviation theme. The sculpture in the lobby is Wings by Oskar J. W. Hansen.
The Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis entrance to the skyway. ] GLEN STUBBE • glen.stubbe@startribune.com Thursday, February 22, 2018 The 26-story Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis was completed in 1929. Much of the building is covered in Art Deco ornamentation with an aviation theme. The sculpture in the lobby is Wings by Oskar J. W. Hansen. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
The lobby staircase of the Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis. ] GLEN STUBBE • glen.stubbe@startribune.com Thursday, February 22, 2018 The 26-story Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis was completed in 1929. Much of the building is covered in Art Deco ornamentation with an aviation theme. The sculpture in the lobby is Wings by Oskar J. W. Hansen.
The lobby staircase of the Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis. ] GLEN STUBBE • glen.stubbe@startribune.com Thursday, February 22, 2018 The 26-story Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis was completed in 1929. Much of the building is covered in Art Deco ornamentation with an aviation theme. The sculpture in the lobby is Wings by Oskar J. W. Hansen. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
The sculpture in the lobby is Wings by Oskar J. W. Hansen. ] GLEN STUBBE • glen.stubbe@startribune.com Thursday, February 22, 2018 The 26-story Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis was completed in 1929. Much of the building is covered in Art Deco ornamentation with an aviation theme. The sculpture in the lobby is Wings by Oskar J. W. Hansen.
The sculpture in the lobby is Wings by Oskar J. W. Hansen. ] GLEN STUBBE • glen.stubbe@startribune.com Thursday, February 22, 2018 The 26-story Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis was completed in 1929. Much of the building is covered in Art Deco ornamentation with an aviation theme. The sculpture in the lobby is Wings by Oskar J. W. Hansen. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
The lobby staircase of the Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis. ] GLEN STUBBE • glen.stubbe@startribune.com Thursday, February 22, 2018 The 26-story Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis was completed in 1929. Much of the building is covered in Art Deco ornamentation with an aviation theme. The sculpture in the lobby is Wings by Oskar J. W. Hansen.
Top, from left, the lobby staircase of the Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis; the skyway entrance to a bank of elevators; and one of the Art Deco details that helped convince a developer to turn the building into a boutique hotel. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
about the writer

about the writer

Nicole Norfleet

Retail Reporter

Nicole Norfleet covers the fast-paced retail scene including industry giants Target and Best Buy. She previously covered commercial real estate and professional services.

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