MINNEAPOLIS — A partnership between locally based developer Mortenson and The University of Minnesota Foundation Real Estate Advisors (UMFREA) is in the planning stages of a 12-acre mixed-use village on the eastern edge of the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus. The project, which will span 3 million square feet, is named The Minnesota Innovation Exchange, or “The MIX.”
Located in Minneapolis, the development site is bounded to the north by the school’s Biomedical Discovery District and the football stadium, Huntington Bank Stadium. The MIX is bounded to the south by the university’s future clinical campus expansion.
Mortensen and UMFREA, which oversees the real estate decisions of the University of Minnesota Foundation, recently selected commercial real estate services giant CBRE to lease The MIX. At full build-out, the private development will include research-and-development space, creative offices, hotel rooms, apartments, shops and restaurants.
The project team, which includes architectural firm HGA, hopes to attract life sciences users to The MIX to capitalize on the Twin Cities’ reputation as a hub for health and science activity, including a concentration of medical device manufacturers headlined by Medtronic and 3M.
“This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for prospective tenants to participate in the most unique and collaborative redevelopment environment the Twin Cities has to offer,” says Mike Bowen, senior vice president of CBRE’s Minneapolis office. Bowen and colleague Jerry Driessen will lead the firm’s leasing team for The MIX.
Pat Mascia of UMFREA will work with Dan Lessor, Brent Webb and Bob Solfelt of Mortensen on the next steps for the development. The project team expects to break ground on Phase I of The MIX in the next 12 to 18 months.
Mortenson is a developer and engineering services provider serving the commercial, institutional and energy sectors. Based in Minneapolis, Mortenson also has offices in Chicago, Denver, Fargo, Iowa City, Milwaukee, Nashville, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
UMFREA is a subsidiary of the University of Minnesota Foundation, a separate corporate 501(c)(3) with a mission to support the University of Minnesota. UMFREA selected Mortenson as the development partner for The MIX in the spring of this year.
— John Nelson