Minneapolis office sold for $255m

Beacon Investment Properties is poised to acquire an office tower in downtown Minneapolis for $255 million. The Hallandale, Florida-based private real estate operator and fund manager—which has no connection to Boston-based Beacon Capital Partners—is in the middle of buying the property from Inland American REIT.

Known as the IDS Center, the 1.4 million-square-foot office building is located at 80 South Eighth Street. The 57-story tower currently is 92 percent occupied by tenants that include law firms Briggs & Morgan, Merchant & Gould and Lindquist & Vennum.

Inland American bought the IDS Center in 2006 for $277 million. The Oak Brook, Illinois-based REIT put the property up for sale in July as part of its plan to refocus its portfolio on retail, lodging and student housing assets, according to a report by the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal.

Established in 2003, Beacon Investment Properties has sponsored five closed-ended real estate funds and separate accounts, raising approximately $300 million in capital, according to its website. 

Despite the secondary location, IDS Center isn’t the only office tower in downtown Minneapolis to be sold this month. Just last week, a joint venture between Angelo Gordon & Co and City Center Realty Partners purchased Plaza Seven from Carlson Real Estate for $43.6 million. Sources told PERE that Angelo Gordon bought into this asset on behalf of its AG Core Plus Realty Fund III, which closed on $1.01 billion in March 2012.

Plaza Seven, a 320,000-square-foot office building located at 45 South Seventh Street, currently is 60 percent occupied. City Center, the San Francisco-based real estate investor and developer, plans to undertake an extensive elevator modernization project for the building, as well as making other building improvements in order to help improve occupancy. In addition to the office portion, the Plaza Seven tower includes a 315-spot underground parking garage, retail space and a hotel, which is undergoing renovations to become a Radisson Blu property but reportedly is not part of the sale.