Blue Cross sells Eagan office tower

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota has sold its vacant 10-story office building in Eagan, the Waterview Office Tower, at a considerable discount from the $8.98 million it paid for the property in 1992.

The building, which went on the market in 2011, was sold for $3.75 million to a business entity related to Hoovestol Inc. of Eagan. The most recent market value for the tower, built in 1985, was $7.93 million, according to Dakota County property records. The sale also included two adjacent undeveloped lots.

At one time, the building housed hundreds of Blue Cross employees, but the company gradually transferred them to its main corporate campus a few miles away. Blue Cross recently completed a $152.9 million sale leaseback deal on the six-building campus, a substantial premium over its assessed value of about $60 million, according to county property records.

Little Caesars continues to expand its footprint in Dakota County, opening a new outlet in Lakeville last month.

The carryout and delivery pizza store at 17668 Kenwood Trail is the second in Lakeville for franchisee Mark Bloomquist. He also operates the Little Caesars at 17653 Glasgow Av. and has another store in Faribault.

"We had been looking at this [new] location for a number of years," Bloomquist said. It previously housed two other pizza businesses — Nicorelli's and Nick-N'Willy's.

In addition to Lakeville, Little Caesars has Dakota County outlets in Burnsville, Eagan, Rosemount, Inver Grove Heights and Hastings.

Colin Sievers, owner Poquet Auto Sales Inc. in Golden Valley, recently paid $1.1 million for the former Airlake Ford-Mercury dealership at Hwy. 50 and Cedar Avenue. Sievers said the 20,000-square-foot building had been vacant for about three years.

Poquet maintains an inventory of cars that Sievers buys at auctions and refurbishes for resale. He said he plans to use the Lakeville facility to work on his inventory.

Sievers started his business in St. Louis Park in 1987 and moved to Golden Valley eight years ago. He said he was interested in finding a south metro location because of customers' telling him they wished he had an outlet in the area.

"This has been on our radar for quite some time," he said.

A new residential and commercial real estate brokerage firm has landed in Burnsville.

Stevens said the firm will handle property management as well as sales and leasing transactions. She plans to open offices in Shakopee and Somerset, Wis.