Sherman Associates has broken ground on a 10-story 222-unit apartment building next door to Thrivent Financial's downtown Minneapolis headquarters.
Thrivent sold the land to Sherman's Moment Minneapolis unit earlier this month for $3 million, according to the Minnesota Department of Revenue's electronic real estate listing.
Sherman broke ground Wednesday on the $80 million project, at the corner of 7th Street S. and Portland Avenue.
Designed by ESG Architects, the apartment building's first floor will house a day care center. The second floor will be leased by Firefighters for Healing, a transitional recovery center for burn victims and their families. The rest of the building will become apartment units.
"It is an excellent site in Elliot Park in downtown east," said Sherman Associates spokeswoman Valerie Doleman.
Thrivent spokeswoman Callie Briese said, "Thrivent's vision in all of this has been wanting to contribute to the thriving East Town area of downtown. So this is an exciting element of that."
The construction project is the latest in a flurry of downtown residential builds over the last few years.
The site is near U.S. Bank Stadium, the Commons, Wells Fargo's twin towers, light rail, and about 11 new apartment and mixed-use buildings.
The new Sora apartments on 6th Street connect to Thrivent via skyway. Sherman's new 7th Street apartment building will also have skyway access.
About a block away, the 16-story Larking apartment building is being constructed on 8th Street and Portland Avenue. That residential tower is expected to open in early 2022 above the Wells Fargo bank branch that opened last year.
Minneapolis boosters and officials with the Downtown Minneapolis Neighborhood Association said the new development is a good sign that investors continue to be interested in creating a vibrant downtown for both workers and residents.
Concerns about COVID-19, remote work trends and rising crime have caused many Minneapolis real estate watchers to fret about the fate of downtown projects during the past year.
But Doleman said Sherman Associates has three other luxury apartment buildings downtown and that traffic and leasing continue to be "really strong. ... Downtown Minneapolis is becoming vibrant and we are really optimistic."
