Pence, Skyscape space leased

Article by: SUSAN FEYDER , Star Tribune
Updated: May 20, 2009 - 2:58 PM

The lease deals will bring a CVS Pharmacy to Elliot Park and a furniture dealer from St. Louis Park to a historic building on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis.

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Skyscape Condominiums, near 10th Street and Portland Avenue in downtown Minneapolis.

Photo: Stormi Greener, Star Tribune

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Two notable buildings in downtown Minneapolis announced deals to fill large chunks of their space.

Tandem Developers has sold most of the ground level of its Skyscape Condominiums to Velmeir Properties, which will develop a CVS Pharmacy in the building at 10th Street and Portland Avenue S.

Meanwhile, the Pence Building on 8th Street and Hennepin Avenue S. has leased an entire floor to Parameters Ltd., a furniture dealer relocating from St. Louis Park.

Velmeir reportedly paid about $2 million for the 10,592 square feet in Skyscape, which has struggled to fill its ground level since the 27-story condo building was completed in 2007. Otho, an Asian-fusion restaurant, was open for less than a year before closing in November. Another deal to fill some space with a wine shop fell through, according to Andrea Christenson, a vice president specializing in retail for the Twin Cities office of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker, which represented Tandem in the deal.

Christenson said Tandem had been open to either selling or leasing the space but was focused on finding an occupant that could service Skyscape residents and others in the Elliot Park neighborhood. CVS, which offers some grocery as well as pharmacy goods, is an ideal fit, she said.

CVS at one time had its eye on another site in Elliot Park, 1010 Park Av. S., where a mixed-use project was planned but went into foreclosure before construction could begin. The pharmacy chain last year opened another store at the south end of downtown at 11th Street and Hennepin Avenue.

Work on the store at Skyscape already has begun and should be finished this fall, Christenson said. She said the plan is to find a coffee shop or deli for the remaining 1,300 square feet.

Parameters' move to the Pence Building, the former home of Carmichael Lynch, will come this August, according to Jack Benedict, president of the office furniture dealer. The company, founded in 1991, has 10 employees.

Benedict said he looked for several months and was focused mostly on finding new space downtown. "This is where the majority of our corporate clients are and the place we figure has the most potential for growth," he said. He was attracted to the Pence space because of its central location and the ability to get an entire floor with a relatively small amount of space, 12,000 square feet.

Parameters is the third significant tenant to lease space in the building in the past several months. In January, advertising agency Wolfmotell agreed to lease two floors of the eight-story building, moving its offices from the Warehouse District. Last fall, Art Institutes International Minnesota kept its current facilities at 9th Street and Hennepin but leased three floors in the Pence for the college's expansion.

The Pence changed hands in 2007 after Carmichael Lynch moved to the Wyman-Partridge Building in the Warehouse District. The Pence's new owner, Minneapolis-based Turnstone Group, is investing about $4 million to renovate the nearly 100-year-old property, according to Mike Wendorf, vice president of the Sherman Group, which manages the building.

Susan Feyder • 612-673-1723

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