Small Twin Cities developer to renovate Gardner Hardware Building in North Loop

A small Twin Cities development company has plans to buy the former Gardner Hardware building in the North Loop of Minneapolis and turn it into office and restaurant space.

The buyer, Saturday Properties, has a purchase agreement with property owner Gardner Hardware and expects to close on the sale by April.

Saturday Properties, Brent Rogers' new solo venture, may be less than a year old, but Rogers is well established in the Twin Cities real estate scene. He gained experience in North Loop development as the former co-owner and president of Greco Properties, LLC.

The developer is not taking on this project alone though. The purchase is a joint venture with New York-based investor Vor Development, which has secured the capital for the $10-12 million renovation. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Rogers plans to rebrand the property as "The Maytag" for the home-appliance company that originally occupied the structure when it was built in 1916. In fact, "The Maytag Co." is still carved in stone above the front doorway, but has been hidden by the red "Gardner Hardware Co." banner.

Gardner occupied the building at 515 Washington Av. N. for 60 years before closing in September. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the structure.

Saturday Properties is currently going through the federal and state approval process and will be on the local meeting agenda by late January or early February.

“This is ground zero in one of the hottest neighborhoods in Minneapolis," Rogers said. "We thought that it was an appropriate size to do a creative office project -- not too big and not too small. That’s a need on this side of downtown as this is where that type of business is growing and expanding.”

The vision for a ground-level restaurant with three levels of potential "creative office space" above it is similar to another renovation project in a different century-old warehouse building (currently home to Sex World) just four blocks away.