The company expects its downtown work force to grow to about 700 employees by 2004. The deal calls for PDI to occupy 110,000 sf in the 400 Building on Robert Street and an additional 40,000 sf in the Lafayette Building, Minnesota Life's operations center south of the river.
"We went from zero to full in one fell swoop," said Dick Zehring, head of Welsh Cos.' St. Paul office, who is the leasing agency for Minnesota Life's 400 Robertand new 401 Robert buildings.
The deal will ease a growing glut of office space in downtown St. Paul, in which a recent conversion of retail to office space, as well as the opening of the 630,000-sf 401 Robert building has greatly increased the space available at a time when a lot of space for sublease is coming on the market. The top floor of the new 401 Robert building is still available for lease, but there is very little else for rent in the two buildings, he said.
Minnesota Life will invest about $7 million to facilitate the arrangement and resolve existing PDI leasing obligations at several locations in the Twin Cities. The city of St. Paul will invest $1.5 million to finance the cost of improving the space.
PDI initially wanted to build its own corporate headquarters building, and worked with city officials in St. Paul as well as the Capital City Partnership in St. Paul to identify relocation options in St. Paul. One of the sites looked at was the Wabasha Court building on Wabasha and Sixth streets, which the city is hoping to raze to make room for a new building.
Zehring and Craig Lien of Welsh Cos. negotiated the lease for Minnesota Life, while Minneapolis-based consultant Ed Braman represented PDI.
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