Wells Fargo Leases More St. Louis Park Space, Consolidates

Wells Fargo & Company has more than tripled its office space in St. Louis Park and will shift about 1,000 workers there as it consolidates its Twin Cities operations.
 
The San Francisco-based bank, which employs about 20,000 in Minnesota, has signed a long-term lease for 477,800 square feet of office space at the Metropoint complex, located on the north side of Interstate 394 near General Mills’ corporate headquarters.
 
Metropoint owner BPG Properties, Ltd., announced the lease on Monday. BPG said that Wells Fargo extended its lease for 147,812 square feet of space that it already occupies and signed on to lease 329,220 square feet of new space. Wells Fargo will now occupy office space in all four buildings of the 918,000-square-foot Metropoint complex.
 
In a statement e-mailed on Tuesday, Wells Fargo said: “As a major employer in the Twin Cities, we continually evaluate our space needs to provide the best facilities for our team members and customers. Over the next three years, we are consolidating from three suburban locations to the Metropoint complex in St. Louis Park. This transition involves approximately 1,000 team members in our payroll services and insurance services businesses.”
 
Although Wells Fargo hasn’t revealed the Twin Cities locations that will be affected by the consolidation, the company said that some employees from its Wells Fargo Home Mortgage office are among those who will be relocated. That office is located in the former Honeywell, Inc., headquarters in south Minneapolis, which Wells Fargo said has experienced traffic and parking congestion.
 
According to the Star Tribune, Wells Fargo’s other suburban operations—excluding bank branches—include Bloomington, Eagan, and Eden Prairie. The company also reportedly operates a large call center in Shoreview.
 
Philadelphia-based BPG is a private equity and real estate fund manager. Its portfolio consists of more than 24 million square feet of office, retail, student housing, and industrial properties and more than 18,000 apartment units in 70-plus communities located throughout the United States.