3M CEO sells 5,800-square-foot Lake Harriet house for $2.4 million

3M CEO Inge Thulin and his wife, Helene, recently sold their stately Lake Harriet house, but he said he isn't leaving Minneapolis or 3M.

"It's a big house and has a big yard and it's only she and me," Thulin said. "And we have three other houses — one in Naples [Fla.], two in Sweden, and we travel a lot."

Thulin said the couple bought the house for $2 million and decided if they received a $2.5 million offer, they would sell it. And they did — almost.

The sale closed at the end of March for $2.4 million.

Barry Berg and Chad Larsen of the Berg Larsen Group at Coldwell Banker Burnet listed and sold the property.

Berg said the house had been quietly marketed and was never publicly listed.

"It is a terrific property, which we'd sold before [to the Thulins] and which we showed discreetly," he said.

The 5,800-square-foot house has four bedrooms, five bathrooms and was built in 1923 on a nearly half-acre lot with sunset views overlooking Lake Harriet. In March 2012, a month after Thulin replaced former CEO George Buckley, the couple bought the property for $2.01 million, according to Hennepin County property records.

That was the same month Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak paid nearly $2.5 million for his nearby Lake of the Isles home.

The former Thulin house has an estimated market value of $2.3 million and an estimated property tax bill of $41,000.

Thulin started with the company in 1979. In 2016, his total compensation was $16.8 million, including a salary of nearly $1.5 million.

Like many other empty nesters, the Thulins wanted maintenance-free living and have since moved into a Minneapolis penthouse. Now, there is no more need to hire gardeners, Inge Thulin said.

Jim Buchta • 612-673-7376