The excerpt below appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune article “Why a 450,000-square-foot office building in Plymouth is about to meet the wrecking ball” on September 3, 2022 by Jim Buchta.

“With more than 1,000 empty parking spaces and do-not-enter signs taped to several locked doors, Prudential’s 75-acre office campus in Plymouth feels nearly abandoned.

It’s been that way nearly since the beginning of the pandemic when the company sent most of its workers home, leaving the 450,000-square-foot office building nearly empty. And like a lot of large companies, Prudential began re-evaluating its space needs.

Late last month the company sold the property to Jeff Koch and Dan Salzer, a pair of Twin Cities developers who decided that, although the building is only 42 years old, it doesn’t have the features and amenities most companies want. Demolition is the only sensible option, they determined.

“It’s getting more and more difficult to fill existing [office] space … and that’s a really tough building to repurpose,” said Koch, a partner of Twin Cities-based Roers Cos. “But it’s a perfect site for residential.”

Koch and Salzer, a director of development for Scannell Properties, said that over the next five years the team plans to spend $300 million to build 12 to 15 buildings that will include rental apartments, medical offices and retail space in what will become one of the biggest redevelopment projects in the metro.”

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