Just Listed: RBC Plaza creates tenant lounge

The 1,700-square-foot space was converted from retail use into a swanky meeting area with a pool table, wet bar and beverage lockers for tenants to store liquor and other beverages.

"We kind of took a cross between a lounge that you may see more with residential and tried to meld it with office," said broker Mark Stevens of Cushman & Wakefield, who manages office leasing at the complex.

The lounge was completed right before the Super Bowl and was used for a client event, Stevens said. The lounge had been retail space that was vacant and "just wasn't working," he said. The new space was designed by Shea Design and can be accessed via key card from the first-floor lobby.

RBC Plaza holds ground and skyway level retail space connected to a 40-floor office tower located on Nicollet Mall and 6th Street. In 2014, RBC Plaza went through a massive renovation to transform the former retail and food court space on the third and fourth floors into a two-story atrium.

The 700,000-square-foot RBC Plaza is 97 percent full. That could change if RBC Wealth Management finalizes a plan to move out of the building and anchor the proposed United Properties development at the Nicollet Hotel Block a few blocks away.

Several Twin Cities universities will brainstorm ideas on how to best use undeveloped land on the riverfront in downtown St. Paul.

As part of its 15th annual University Challenge, the Minnesota chapter of NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, will have three finalists from six universities present their concepts for the site as part of an April 19 program.

The county spent $17 million to demolish the former West Publishing Co. buildings and the Ramsey County jail that used to stand on the nearly 5 acres of land at the intersection of Wabasha Street and Kellogg Boulevard, which overlooks the Mississippi River.

Phoenix-based Cardon Development Group was the only developer to submit ideas to Ramsey County when it sought a partner to remake the site. Cardon wanted to build a $225 million complex with a hotel, 300-unit housing, offices, retail and parking, but the plan fell through.

The county continues to meet with developers on the potential for the site, Siqveland said. The County Board hopes to select a preferred developer in the third quarter of this year.