Schafer Richardson has plans to add more office space to the popular North Loop neighborhood of Minneapolis.

The developer wants to build three new floors on top of the two-story Zuccaro's Produce building at N. 3rd Street and 10th Avenue N. and convert the building into a site for creative office space. With the new floors, the building will be about 50,000 square feet.

"There's just limited opportunity for existing buildings in the area," said Maureen Michalski, director of development for Schafer Richardson.

The developer hopes to take off the stucco layer to reveal the brick, complete with ghost signs believed to be underneath. Schafer Richardson also plans to expose the covered windows and add more openings.

When the structure was built in the 1920s, additional stories were anticipated and the footings are already in place to support the extra weight.

The top three floors will be constructed of modern materials. While the building is going to be predominantly office space, Schafer Richardson plans to offer a 3,100-square-foot annex in the building for a restaurant or other use.

Zuccaro's will soon move to Columbia Heights. The developer already has talked to one possible tenant that wants to take a floor and a half of space. Some of the expected amenities will be shared bike storage, showers, lockers and a rooftop deck.

If the schedule goes according to plan, the developer would like to start renovations in the summer with the building being completed in spring 2018.

Schafer Richardson has partnered with UrbanWorks Architecture, general contractor Synergy Builders and its own Mike Olson as the leasing agent.

The firm also has scrapped its previous idea to build a new 11-story, 200,000-square-foot office building at 700 N. 5th St., close to Fulton Brewery. Instead, it plans to renovate the current 87,000-square-foot industrial building in the North Loop, which has been the site of Weather-Rite, a maker of heating, venting and air conditioning systems. The result should be modern office space with a similar look and feel as the Machine Shop, which the developer renovated on behalf of a private owner in St. Anthony Main and was opened last year as an event center.

Michalski said she hopes the building will be ready for tenants by the fall.

Nicole Norfleet