New downtown Minneapolis workplace opens at 801 Marquette
The second-floor workplace is the first flexible office located on the Skyway
CommonGrounds Workplace opens its newest location in downtown Minneapolis, bringing its next-generation flexible shared office model to 801 Marquette Avenue South.
CommonGrounds is an enterprise-grade Workplace-as-a-Service company that collaborates with office owners to provide flexible space and coworking for companies of all sizes in multiple U.S. cities. It opened a new site in downtown Salt Lake City in March and has signed leases for new locations in Midtown Atlanta, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. as part of the company’s $100 million Series A funding expansion program.
“CommonGrounds’ enterprise-grade workplace solution will transform Marquette’s ability to meet the growth needs of companies headquartered and expanding in Minneapolis,” said Jacob Bates, chief executive officer for CommonGrounds Workplace. “With its recent transformation, 801 Marquette provides a fantastic location right on the Skyway with beautiful building amenities, and a community dynamic that complements the first-class services and spaces we provide for our members.”
The 130-month lease includes 27,478 square feet, comprising the entire second floor of the four-floor, turn of the century, brick building in the heart of downtown Minneapolis.
CommonGrounds Workplace spans both sides of the enclosed Minneapolis Skyway System that runs through 801 Marquette. The Skyway connects people to businesses, services, restaurants, bars, shopping, parking facilities and residential living. The location is steps away from the Nicollet Mall, which has served as the city’s “Main Street” civic mall for more than 100 years.
The 84-year-old 801 Marquette building, transformed by Perkins+Will in 2017, boasts a four-story atrium and rooftop deck for planned events. The building amenities and renovations also include a fitness center, Gray Fox Coffee & Wine, a training and conference center, and Zip Car access in addition to Skyway connectivity. Nearby conveniences include retail and lodging, with neighboring W Minneapolis – The Forshay hotel off the atrium and access to an extensive city-wide trail system.
“CommonGrounds’ Workplaces are designed to meet the needs of today’s next-gen worker and corporate enterprise occupiers,” said Bates. “The hackable modularity of our workspaces creates highly flexible and brandable spaces enabling companies to expand and grow almost on-demand with our proprietary demountable wall system. All while maintaining a highly productive and frictionless environment that is both physically and digitally secure.”
The Minneapolis CommonGrounds will serve 423 members with private offices, team rooms and coworking areas to accommodate the space needs for companies of all sizes. The workplace includes eight acoustically sound, video-enabled conference rooms, a communal pantry and living room, and numerous other spaces for connecting and phone rooms for privacy. The entire location runs on an enterprise-enabled network, securely delivering gigabit upload and download speeds for higher productivity. The proprietary CG+ app allows members to connect with a variety of services, including wireless door entry, conference room reservations, event registration, a job board with additional features in development.
The grand opening celebration and ribbon cutting will be on Thursday, July 11 at 3:30 p.m. with tours from 4:00 -6:00 p.m. and is open to the public.
Mahtomedi, Minnesota native Libby Sullivan (612-268-0898) is the local CommonGrounds Workplace manager. Prior to joining the company, she was in sales with Tesla for four years.
Meet Minneapolis is the other tenant in the building. This is the second location that CommonGrounds has signed with the building owner, Franklin Street Properties Corp., based in Wakefield, Massachusetts. A lease was signed for 999 Peachtree in Atlanta’s Midtown in April that is scheduled to open in early 2020.
The company’s in-house creative team designed the multi-million-dollar renovation of the CommonGounds space. The general contractor was Greiner Construction and ESG is local the architect of record.
Mark McCary, Larissa Champeau and Anne Rinde with CBRE represented the owner, while CommonGrounds’ was represented by Strategic Real Estate Advisory in the negotiations.
