Minneapolis-based Real Estate Recycling is developing the building on a former polluted site at the intersection of France Avenue North and Highway 100. Caribou signed a 10-year lease for the new building.

The new building will support the coffee chain's significant growth anticipated over the next few years, says Chris Toal, Caribou's VP of marketing. Caribou Coffee now has 254 stores and 3,900 employees, and besides Minnesota, its stores can also be found in Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia. Caribou plans to double its number of shops and its number of markets over the next three years.

Construction is expected to be completed this spring, with Caribou starting to move in June from its existing 80,000 sf spread among three buildings in the Minneapolis Warehouse District. The new building will not only be significantly larger than its present space, but it will be far more efficient, since it will be in one complex and designed specifically for the functions it will serve, say Caribou officials.