A massive new industrial building is on deck for the former Thomson Reuters campus in Eagan, and the future occupant is staying very quiet about it. Ryan Companies has filed plans for a roughly 337,000-square-foot industrial structure on the property that would serve an unnamed tenant. The new building would sit on the redeveloped site between a large logistics parcel and a data-center project that is being repurposed on the same campus.
According to the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal, the filing spells out the 337,000-square-foot figure but does not identify the end user. That outlet reports Ryan has offered only limited public details on what will go inside the building, and the tenant remains unnamed in the city paperwork.
Site, Scale and Ryan’s Master Plan
Ryan finalized purchase of roughly 179 acres of the former Thomson Reuters campus at 610 Opperman Drive and has been moving ahead with a mixed industrial and residential reuse of the property, according to the Star Tribune. On its project page, the developer lays out a long-term redevelopment that combines multilevel industrial buildings with townhomes, park space and other supporting infrastructure.
Ryan’s materials show the east side of the site reserved for logistics and industrial users, while the western portion is aimed at housing and open space. The new 337,000-square-foot building slots into that industrial east side, helping to shape what could become a dense employment and warehouse hub.
Amazon Next Door and a Growing Logistics Cluster
One large parcel on the campus was sold off separately to Amazon, which paid roughly $52.5 million for land where it has considered a multi-story distribution project that could reach into the millions of square feet, according to Finance & Commerce. The new Ryan building would land between that Amazon-controlled parcel and the portion of the campus that holds the existing data-center footprint.
That positioning effectively tucks the 337,000-square-foot project into the middle of a growing logistics cluster on the eastern side of the former Thomson Reuters site, with trucks, loading docks and data infrastructure potentially becoming the defining landscape on that half of the property.
Data Center Reuse and Tech Partners
Alongside the new construction, Ryan has preserved and is retrofitting one existing data center on the campus. The company’s project materials highlight a partnership with Centra (formerly Deep Edge) to convert part of that structure into a carrier-neutral interconnection facility that can serve multiple users.
Ryan says the approach is meant to modernize connectivity on site while avoiding the additional utility load that would come with an entirely new data-center build. Keeping a functioning data-center component in the mix also helps explain how the new industrial buildings are being arranged around that infrastructure.
Local Debate, Power Demands and Permits
Data centers and the heavy utility needs that come with them have turned into a hot-button topic in Eagan. City leaders recently weighed a proposed one-year moratorium on new data-center approvals so staff can study zoning, water use and power impacts, along with public feedback, according to reporting on a plan to pull plug on data centers. That policy debate could shape the timing and conditions attached to large industrial and tech projects on the former campus.
Neighbors and environmental reviewers have already raised questions about wetlands, stormwater handling and traffic tied to big logistics developments in the Dodd Road corridor, so the city’s review of the Ryan project is not likely to be sleepy.
What’s Next
The 337,000-square-foot proposal still needs site-plan approvals and building permits before any construction can start, and neither Ryan nor city officials have released a public construction timeline. As the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal reported, Ryan has declined to identify the prospective tenant and has offered only brief public comment so far.
That means many of the details, from building operations to traffic patterns, will have to wait for future public filings and City Council materials. For now, Eagan knows a sizable new industrial neighbor is coming to the old Thomson Reuters grounds, even if it does not yet know who will move in.
