Minneapolis grain silo for sale near the U a ‘long shot’ for redevelopment

Hennepin County wants to unload a relic of Minneapolis’ industrial past: an abandoned grain elevator near the University of Minnesota that’s unlikely to attract many high bids.

“It’s a really difficult parcel,” said Scott Tankenoff, managing partner at Minneapolis-based Hillcrest Development. “These are very expensive things to get rid of.”

Old grain elevators are historic and iconic in their own right, but they are difficult to redevelop and expensive to demolish.

The 1.4 acre-site, which is at 700 29th Av SE just a few blocks from Huntington Bank Stadium, was initially developed in the late 1800s in what was once a sprawling industrial complex.

Situated among a tangle of rail lines, the cement structures were used to ship grain to and from the many mills that once populated the city during Minneapolis’ heyday as the grain milling capital of the world.

Today, much of the land around it has been redeveloped, but it’s still zoned for industrial use. The property includes several buildings, including tall concrete and steel grain bins and a one-story building with a total of more than 20,000 square feet.

In 2024, the property was owned by Wall Development Companies, which acquired the site in the early 2000s. Wall has owned and redeveloped other adjacent properties, including the popular mixed-use development Malcolm Yards.

Bids start at half the cost of a typical starter house in the Twin Cities. The county opened bidding on Dec. 26 at $148,000, a reflection of the property’s current estimated market value.

If there are no takers within a month, the minimum bid drops to a little more than $88,000, which reflects the delinquent taxes, special assessments, penalties, interest and other costs.

Tankenoff said redeveloping such sites is complicated, expensive and time-consuming. Over the past several years, his company has bought and redeveloped a trio of former industrial properties that also included tall concrete elevators similar to the ones on the property the county is auctioning.

In all three cases, converting those grain elevators into other uses didn’t make sense, so the structures were stabilized, and he redeveloped the property around them.

A prospective buyer will have to tackle environmental remediation, and if they can’t find another use for the buildings, demolition can cost millions.

Because of their place in the city’s history, tearing down a grain elevator isn’t always easy, even if it doesn’t have a historic designation.

In early 2025, the Minneapolis City Council approved a demolition permit for the former Nokomis Mill along Hiawatha Avenue despite efforts by a small group of preservationists who wanted the buildings to be repurposed into affordable housing.

Such conversions, Tankenoff said, are expensive and difficult. In the mid-1980s, a developer transformed a complex of grain silos built in the early 1900s into the Calhoun Isles condominium towers.

In the case of the current offering, the location of the site is its biggest attribute, Tankenoff said.

“This is a tough one, but it’s super well-located,” he said. “Something will happen there, it’s just a question of when.”