Minneapolis’ former newspaper factory is poised for a second life as an artificial-intelligence hub, with housing or retail potentially tagging along for the ride. The deal would turn one of the North Loop’s last major industrial properties into a test case for how downtown real estate gets reinvented.
A Virginia-based developer has signed an agreement to buy the shuttered Minnesota Star Tribune printing plant, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune. Legacy Investing is pursuing a data center at the 13-acre Heritage Center site, while also envisioning a mixed-use project that could include homes or shops.
Legacy Investing describes itself as a developer and operator of data centers, logistics facilities and other technology-driven real estate. The company’s pitch for the North Loop is that revenue from computing infrastructure could help finance more conventional neighborhood uses that might otherwise be difficult to build on the property.
The sale is expected to close in the fourth quarter, provided the project clears Minneapolis’ conditional-use permitting process, and the purchase price has not been disclosed. Legacy managing partner Daniel English told The Minnesota Star Tribune that the site could support roughly 20 megawatts of data-center capacity over the next two to three years.
North Loop Deal Lands Amid Minneapolis Data Center Fight
The timing is notable because Minneapolis recently approved a temporary pause on most new data-center development while officials study energy use, environmental effects, public safety and other regulations. CBS Minnesota reported that downtown projects smaller than 350,000 square feet are exempt, although the exact size and permitting path for the Heritage redevelopment have not been announced.
Data centers are attractive to developers because former printing facilities often have large electrical systems, expansive floor plates and loading infrastructure already in place. The approach has also produced a major downtown valuation jump elsewhere in Minneapolis: A data center-equipped Sleep Number building sold for $235 million earlier this year, according to the Star Tribune’s report.
From Newspaper Presses To Servers
The Heritage plant stopped printing after nearly four decades as the Star Tribune shifted production to a facility in Des Moines, Iowa. MPR News reported that the move was tied to declining print readership and the company’s decision to close the Minneapolis facility.
For the North Loop, the proposed conversion represents a sharp change in what the property does, but not necessarily in its industrial DNA. The big question now is whether Legacy can fit a power-hungry data center, future housing or retail, and neighborhood expectations onto one of downtown Minneapolis’ rare remaining large sites.
