Huge $4.5M downtown condo in Mill District is Minneapolis’ most expensive sale in 2025

A downtown Minneapolis condo that’s more than twice the size of a typical single-family abode in the Twin Cities has recently sold for $4.5 million, making it the most expensive residential sale in the city this year.

The condo was also among the most unique to be sold in recent years: a rare four bedrooms and five baths with nearly 6,000 total square feet overlooking the Mississippi River in the Mill District, one of the city’s hottest neighborhoods.

“There’s nothing like this one,” said Isaac Kuehn, the agent who represented the buyer and seller. “It’s so large. It’s the size of a house.”

The sale, which took more than a year and at a significant loss to the seller, offers a glimpse into the high-stakes and often challenging conditions for those selling multimillion-dollar homes in the Twin Cities. While the luxury market has posted some of the biggest sales gains of the year, finding buyers for one-of-a-kind homes and the most expensive condos can be tricky. There’s a limited number of people who can afford them, and that segment of the market is flush with listings.

This condo is on the seventh floor of the Whitney Lofts, a brick-and-timber mill building built in 1879 that helped make Minneapolis the flour capital of the world. In 1987, the ramshackle, riverfront building was renovated into a posh hotel that was the go-to for visiting celebs, including Elton John and Mick Jagger. In 2007, the hotel was converted into a boutique condominium building with nearly 30 units.

This condo was a combination of two previously unfinished units, a passion project for empty nesters Lisa and Keith Helming. They were looking for a downtown landing pad after selling their house in Eden Prairie.

In late 2019, the couple paid $2.75 million for two raw, unfinished condos and united them, spending another $3.5 million in the process, according to Kuehn.

But during the three or so years it took to plan and execute the conversion, the Helmings changed course and moved full time to Florida to be closer to their children and a new grandchild. They never moved into the condo.

When the couple bought the condo some six years ago, there were far fewer options than there are now. Market conditions have changed, and condo and townhouse sales across the metro have lagged the broader market, in part because higher insurance costs have increased the monthly homeowners association (HOA) fees common in multifamily buildings.

The new owner of the Whitney condo will pay a monthly HOA fee of $5,730, plus nearly $27,000 in annual property taxes. Many HOAs are also passing along double-digit increases of their fees.

Downtown Minneapolis buyers also have far more options than they did in 2019. An influx of more than 100 seven-figure condos hit the market in 2022 after completion of the Eleven on the River and the Residences at Four Seasons. Some of the most expensive units in those buildings have yet to sell.

Kuehn said that with values shifting and no comparable condo sales to help set the price of this Whitney unit, it was difficult to determine its market value.

Size-wise, Kuehn said, the most comparable condo on the market at the time was a large, upper-floor unit at the Eleven priced at $6.5 million. Kuehn said he thought it would be prudent to price the Helmings’ condo slightly lower, so in March 2024, he listed it at $5.995 million.

This past May, after that Eleven unit sold for $1.65 million less than the asking price, Kuehn cut the price of the Whitney condo to $4.995 million.

“That’s where we should have been in the first place,” he said. “The cost of building it is what drove the price.”

To generate sales leads, Kuehn hosted an Aquatennial viewing party in July and served past clients and prospective buyers wine and hors d’oeuvres.

“We had some fun with it,” he said. “That drove a lot of traffic.”

That buyer remains anonymous, and public records don’t yet have the sale’s information. But Kuehn said the buyer is from Minnesota.

“We always knew it was going to be a special buyer, and it was,” he said. “They had to recognize its value.”

After more than a year on the market, the Whitney condo sold for $4.5 million, just shy of $800 per square foot. In the newer high-rise buildings with resort-style amenities, condos are selling for more than $1,000 per square foot.

“It was a bargain compared with the Four Seasons or the Eleven,” Kuehn said.

Last year, a Four Seasons condo sold for $5.25 million, more than $1,300 per square foot.

Including the Whitney condo, MLS shows the top five condo sales in Minneapolis this year range from a 2,800-square-foot unit in the Phoenix on the River that sold for $2.25 million to a 4,120-square-foot condo in Washburn Lofts. That space, just down the street from the Whitney, sold for $3.25 million in April.

Although the Whitney condo sold for less than the sellers had invested in it, Kuehn said the sale is a sign of strength for the Mill District.

“People want to be there,” he said. “It shows that wealthier individuals still value the downtown markets.”