France Avenue is lining up for a fresh round of attention. Minneapolis developer Swervo has paid $9.5 million for the France Commons office complex at 7600 S. France Ave. in Edina and plans to renovate the building while carving out build‑ready pads for new service‑oriented retail along the France Avenue corridor.
Deal Details
As reported by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, the sale closed this week for $9.5 million and includes the multi‑tenant office property known as France Commons. The outlet notes that Swervo is planning a renovation of the office space along with the construction of one or more service‑oriented retail buildings facing France Avenue.
Property Snapshot
The site is marketed as France Commons at 7600 S. France Ave. A LoopNet listing describes the property as a large multi‑story office complex with roughly 188,810 square feet of building area, plus subdividable, build‑ready pads and heavy daily traffic counts. The commercial listing also highlights plentiful surface parking and direct frontage on France Avenue, attributes landlords often target for street‑level service tenants.
Swervo's Local Moves
The Edina buy is the latest in a string of metro moves for Swervo. Finance & Commerce recently reported that the developer purchased a large Shakopee warehouse in May, and Swervo has a history of acquiring and repositioning suburban office assets around the Twin Cities. That track record suggests Swervo may pursue interior upgrades, refreshed common areas and active ground‑floor programming to attract higher‑demand service tenants.
Why Service Retail Makes Sense
Industry data point to a national shift toward service‑oriented retail such as gyms, salons, and medical and wellness operators. CoStar data first reported in national coverage and summarized by Business Report show that these users accounted for just over half of retail leasing in 2025. That market dynamic helps explain developers' appetite for pad sites on France Avenue, where new projects such as JLL's The Craftsman on France are already retooling office and street‑level spaces for experiential and service uses, according to REJournals.
What Comes Next
Swervo has not released a detailed construction timeline or tenant list, according to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, and any redevelopment will require site‑plan approvals and permitting from the City of Edina. The city maintains public records and planning pages for filings and review. Expect permit filings and neighborhood notices to start popping up as Swervo moves toward formal plans for renovations and pad construction at 7600 S. France Ave.
