Wells Fargo is going to move 1,250 of its workers to its sprawling Home Mortgage Minneapolis campus, which was previously Honeywell Inc.’s corporate headquarters.
The relocation would bring the campus’ total headcount to 5,000, about 45 percent of the San Francisco-based banking giant’s total workforce in Minnesota. The employees will settle in after a new parking ramp is built on the campus at 2701 Wells Fargo Way, which sits just east of Interstate 35 West and north of the Midtown Greenway.
Officials say that because of a dearth of parking, the company has underutilized the campus, which has about 1 million square feet of office space spread over three main buildings.
It is unclear which existing offices will be consolidated during the move, or what it may mean for Wells Fargo Center – a 57-story office tower in the heart of downtown and a defining feature of Minneapolis’ skyline. Though Wells Fargo spokesperson John Hobot said the employees would be coming from existing office locations the company currently leases, he declined to say which ones would be affected.
According to current CoStar data, Wells Fargo leases about 350,000 square feet at Wells Fargo Center on the lower 18 floors, though according to leasing materials three-and-a-half of these levels are listed as vacant and available for lease. The building’s owner, Houston, TX-based Hines, declined to comment on the matter, as did the Minneapolis office of Newmark Knight Frank, which is responsible for leasing there.
The company also lends its name and presence to Wells Fargo Plaza in Bloomington, a 1970s-era building owned by New York City-based DRA Advisors. Wells Fargo occupies about 50,000 square feet there.
Wells Fargo’s impending consolidation came to light after the company submitted plans to the city of Minneapolis which call for expanding the south parking ramp at the Home Mortgage Campus by building a new, six-level, 312,436-square-foot addition with 910 stalls. The addition would go up on a spot that is currently a surface parking lot.
If all goes well, construction on the $23 million ramp will start this May and wrap up by the summer of 2019. Minneapolis-based Ryan Cos. US, Inc. will serve as both the general contractor and architect for the project.
Wells Fargo occupies nearly 4 million square feet of office space in Minneapolis, according to a statement provided by the company. Prime among its Minneapolis offices are two new towers on the east side of downtown Minneapolis, which opened in July 2016. The downtown east campus, which is owned by the banking company, has 1.2 million square feet of office space in all.
The Home Mortgage Minneapolis campus came into being after Wells Fargo purchased the Honeywell site in 1999. The process of renovating the site for Wells Fargo’s use took almost six years to complete, according to a fact sheet provided by the company.
The company may undertake a second expansion project there in 2028, according to materials provided to the city of Minneapolis. Wells Fargo will consider removing a parking garage on the north side of the site and construct a new, 380,000-square-foot office building and a bigger parking ramp in its place.
