Ryan Cos. buying bulk of 263-acre former Thomson Reuters campus in Eagan

Ryan Cos. said Thursday it plans to buy the bulk of the former Thomson Reuters headquarters, a sprawling 263-acre campus in Eagan.

The deal for 179 acres, which does not include the company’s print facility, comes just months after the media company said it would downsize dramatically to a much smaller building nearby. Neither company has announced terms of the deal.

Ryan, a building and developing company, said its purchase and sale agreement for the majority of the campus includes a 1.1-million-square-foot office building, three data centers totaling 333,912 square feet and 90 undeveloped acres.

“It’s a once-in-a-generation development site and opportunity,” said Tony Barranco, north region president at Ryan.

The property is along Dodd Road south of the Interstate 494 and I-35E interchange. The site is notable for its proximity to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport as well as the downtowns of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

Barranoco said the company doesn’t yet have development plans or commitments from tenants but instead is now focused on closing the deal and facilitating Thomson’s full transition to its new offices. So it’s too soon to say exactly how and when the site will undergo redevelopment, he said.

“We’re focused on the near term,” Barranoco said. “And just starting the process to get feedback from the community.”

Ryan is in the midst of several major suburban redevelopment projects, including a 100-acre Minnesota Science and Technology Center in Maple Grove. The company also recently came to terms with the Ramsey County Board to buy 40 acres of what’s known as the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant in Arden Hills.

Barranco said that although Thomson is exiting most of the area, the company will still maintain a significant presence on the portion of the site it’s not selling: the print manufacturing facility.

In December 2021, Thomson said it had more space than it needed and planned to list the property as the company downsized its footprint in the Twin Cities metro. Last June, Thomson announced it had found its new site: the Landing, a newly built office building near the TCO Performance Center at Viking Lakes, which is about 4 miles from its current headquarters building.

Thomson took occupancy of that 308,000-square-foot sublease space in the former Prime Therapeutics building in Eagan late last year.

The Ryan agreement comes during a lull in major commercial real estate deals as office vacancies hover near record highs and companies re-evaluate their space needs, making this a big win for the south metro. In a submarket that includes Eagan, Burnsville and Apple Valley, the direct availability rate for office space was nearing 10% at the end of 2023, according to a quarterly report from Colliers. That’s below the metro-wide average but still much higher than normal.

“We are committed to working with Thomson Reuters agents and the potential buyers of their former home to ensure the sellers’, the market and the community’s needs are balanced and met,” Eagan Mayor Mike Maguiresaid in a statement.