Why Merchant & Gould moved out of iconic IDS.

Byline: Matt M. Johnson

The updated technology infrastructure at Fifth Street Towers helped to lure Merchant & Gould across downtown Minneapolis into a smaller, but more efficient office floorplan.The intellectual property law firm will move next summer into 40,246 square feet of space on the 21st and 22nd floors of the two-building complex at 150 Fifth St. S., according to a press release from the Twin Cities office of Cushman & Wakefield.

Merchant & Gould will leave behind 55,000 square feet of space in the IDS Center at 80 Eighth St. S., where it has been located for 15 years.

About 150 Merchant & Gould employees will move to the new office. The firm got its start in Minneapolis 118 years ago, and now has offices in seven cities across the nation.

The firm picked Fifth Street Towers after considering several downtown properties, said Christopher Leonard, Merchant & Gould's managing director and CEO. Chicago-based Zeller Realty Group and Newport Beach, California-based PIMCO the owners -- completed a renovation of the Fifth Street property 18 months ago.

"Our lease was coming due and we wanted to stay in downtown Minneapolis," Leonard said in an interview with Finance & Commerce.

The new lease will be "longer than 10 years," said Paul Donovan, an executive director with Cushman & Wakefield, whichrepresentedthe law firmin the leasenegotiations.

New common collaboration space in the buildings was a key consideration in choosing Fifth Street Towers, Leonard said. It also didn't hurt that the property was certified as "Wired Gold" for its technology infrastructure.

The complex's locationa half-block eastof the Nicollet Mall Stationserving the light rail lineswas also a consideration, Leonard said.

Merchant & Gould's build-out in the new space will feature private offices that are all the same size, collaborative workspaces, and a new paper-free workflow dependent on computers. Going paper-free will save quite a bit of space, Leonard said.

"We moved in (to the IDS Center) 15 years ago with file cabinets," he said. "We don't need those anymore."

Leonard declined to say how much the office build-out will cost.

The Minneapolis office of DLR Group will design the new office space. Minneapolis-based Gardner Builders will be the general contractor. Construction begins early next year.

Fifth Street Towers is now about 85 percent leased, said Reed Christianson, a principal with...

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