United Properties revamps design of 33-story tower for downtown Minneapolis

United Properties revealed a new design Monday for the 33-story tower it wants to build on the north end of Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis, fresh after landing RBC Wealth Management as the anchor tenant.

The building, which for now is being called the Gateway in a nod to the district that for years was known as the entrance to downtown, will likely have a new name announced in the fall, said Bill Katter, president and chief investment officer of United Properties.

"There is still work to do to get this done, but I would say it's a breakthrough," Katter said Monday. "I think it's a breakthrough for downtown. It's been many years since it has had a tower with class A office [space], hotel and condos."

Previously envisioned as a sleek, straight skyscraper with a spire, the new design shows the building with several terraces and setbacks. The floors change in size as the building changes in use. The Gateway will be prominently visible from Target Field's home plate and many of its seats.

The million-square-foot building, estimated to cost about $330 million, will be on the site of a surface parking lot on 3rd Street S. between Nicollet and Hennepin avenues.

In addition to RBC, which will take about one-third of the tower, the Gateway will have office space, a Four Seasons hotel with around 275 rooms and about 18 condominiums on the top floors. Precise amounts of office space, hotel rooms and housing units aren't set.

RBC, which currently has its offices a few blocks away in a building now called RBC Plaza, will move 1,500 employees into 310,000 square feet of space when the Gateway is ready in 2021.

"The city of Minneapolis has been our home for many decades and we look forward to continuing to build our legacy here," Michael Armstrong, chief executive of RBC Wealth Management-U.S., said in a statement. "Our move to our future home — a sustainably built, state-of-the-art building — will be a symbol of our firm's growth and commitment to the wealth management business in the U.S."

The development of the city-owned site, dubbed the Nicollet Hotel Block after the hotel that used to occupy it, has been delayed as United Properties sought to secure financing. Last week, city staff executed a redevelopment contract with United Properties after the developer was able to confirm RBC as the office anchor for the project.

In an interview last month, Mayor Jacob Frey called the block "not just an entrance to downtown but a gateway to the entire western half of the country."

There have been several designs United Properties has proposed for the tower. The company originally said it wanted to build a 36-story project with apartments and hotel rooms.

In a more-recent design, the tower was supposed to include a lighted spire on the roof, but city staff said in reports that the new design has "an architecturally significant style with a primarily glass facade and stepped rooftop terraces that no longer warrants additional aesthetic enhancements."

Atlanta-based architectural firm Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart Inc. worked on the latest design.

United Properties still needs to submit its land-use application to the city and anticipates closing on the purchase of the 1.7-acre parcel for $10.4 million between December and February. Construction is expected to start in spring 2019.

For United Properties, which traditionally has focused largely on suburban development, the Gateway project reflects a growing shift to concentrate on downtown Minneapolis projects. Since 2010, the developer has worked on seven renovation and new construction projects in downtown, Katter said.

Last week, United Properties started construction on Target Field Station, a 150,000-square-foot complex that will feature a Fillmore Theater and an Element by Westin hotel.

Last year, United Properties moved its headquarters from Bloomington to the Gaviidae complex in downtown.

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