Only in the Twin Cities would the ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new skyway link constitute news. But if you live here or work in downtown Minneapolis or St. Paul, you know why the climate-controlled above-street tunnels are crucial to one's sanity in the dead of winter.
But that was the case Friday morning when muckity-mucks from the commercial real estate and business communities and city officials gathered to shear a bright red ribbon at the Accenture Tower at 333 S. Seventh St. in downtown Minneapolis – all in celebration of a new skyway link. (Or "skywalks," as your blogger's East Coast friends call them.)
The new skyway links the Accenture building with the Ameriprise headquarters. It's actually the third skyway link to the Accenture building, on its west side, spanning Third Avenue South.
According to CBRE Group Inc., the commercial real estate services firm, the land just west of Accenture Tower was sold in July 2011 to CalSTRS, the California State Teachers Retirement System, providing the opportunity to create a new skyway link. Skyways in Minneapolis are largely privately owned, and the teachers' retirement fund owns the Accenture building. The cost of the new link wasn't revealed.
Janet Moore covers commercial real estate for the Star Tribune.
