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The Textile Center has struck a deal with United Properties for the former Tierney Brothers headquarters, a 1950’s era building on a key corner in Minneapolis’ up-and-coming Prospect Park neighborhood.
Minneapolis-based developer United Properties has a purchase agreement with the non-profit, which specializes in all things related to fiber arts, according to an announcement posted by the center last Thursday. If all goes according to plan, by this fall the Textile Center will close on the two-story building at 3300 University Ave. SE.
The non-profit plans to make the 31,000-square-foot structure into its new home. The move would be a short one: The Textile Center is currently located just a few blocks west, at 3000 University Ave. SE, where it has been located since 2001.
United Properties could not be immediately reached for comment.
Executive Director Karl Reichert said Tuesday that he could not disclose specifics of the deal, including the purchase price, but said the Textile Center has been searching for a new location for quite a while.
“This is an exciting opportunity for us and a logical next step,” Reichert said, adding that the Textile Center was committed to staying in the neighborhood.
It could take several years to finalize plans for the new building and raise funding for the project, Reichert said. In the interim, the Textile Center would stay in its current building and most likely rent out the 3300 location, just off the Green Line Light Rail and immediately east of a Minneapolis landmark, the Witch’s Hat Water Tower.
Until late 2016, 3300 University was the corporate headquarters of Tierney Brothers, an audiovisual systems design and integration firm. Tierney moved to a 52,000-square-foot space at another United Properties development, the Midway Stadium Business Center in St. Paul, a 189,000-square-foot light industrial building at 1785 Energy Park Dr.
In turn, Tierney sold its HQ to United Properties in March 2017. The developer paid $1.29 million for the building.
In 2014, the Green Line light rail became operational and craft beer maker Surly Brewing Co. opened a sprawling destination brewery and taproom in Prospect Park. Since that time the area around the rail station in the once-sleepy area become a development hot spot. At least six new housing developments have taken root there, as well as a Fresh Thyme grocery store that opened in April.
Most recently, a Chicago-based company, Vermilion Development, unveiled plans for a $50 million project on the block just east of the former Tierney headquarters. The developer hopes to build a six-story, 124-unit apartment building and a 14-story, 65-unit condo tower around an existing retail structure, the Art & Architecture building.
