Saint Anthony Main

St. Anthony Main is a collection of buildings dating back to the 1850s when the Village of St. Anthony was still separate from Minneapolis. While it features high ceilings, incredible views, and exposed brick, stone, and timber, the building had a significant amount of space with no natural light which limited leasing opportunities.

Role
Repositioning, leasing strategy, and ongoing asset management in partnership with local ownership portfolio

Opportunity & Challenges
Saint Anthony Main included architecturally rich space with significant leasing limitations, particularly large areas lacking natural light. The challenge was to reconfigure underperforming space and unlock new leasing potential while preserving the historic character of the asset.

Approach
Faced with a large vacancy with no windows, Element came up with a creative solution to add a wall of glass to the hallway, bringing in exterior borrowed light, and multiple large skylights.  To create an attractive space on the second floor with high ceilings and architectural details, Element relocated the entrance to a third-floor tenant space and added rentable square footage by converting storage space into creative office space by adding rear windows and a balcony.  The reconfigured floorplan and enhanced natural lighting brought a new level of energy to the overall building, allowing Element to attract an anchor tenant, add rentable square footage, while significantly increasing the building value.

Results
→ $5.6M in value created
→ 27% performance increase
→ Stabilized through leasing and operations
→ Improved overall asset functionality