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St. Paul council approves 8-year lease at Osborne 370 to house city staff as part of downtown space study
Summary
The St. Paul City Council approved an eight-year lease for roughly 10,000 square feet on the ninth floor of the Osborne 370 Building at 9 Fifth Street East to accommodate city staff and support downtown revitalization efforts.
The St. Paul City Council on a unanimous vote approved a lease with the owner of 9 Fifth Street East (the Osborne 370 Building) to occupy the entire ninth floor for city office space.
Bruce Engelbrecht, real estate section, Office of Financial Services, told the council the space is a little over 10,000 square feet, ready to occupy with existing furniture, and is being offered on an eight-year gross lease with the first 12 months rent-free. Engelbrecht said the rental rate starts at $25.50 per square foot, with an annual escalator of $0.50 per square foot (about 2% per year), and that the lease rolls utilities, taxes, insurance and common-area maintenance into the single rate.
City officials described two main purposes for the lease: to meet the city’s near-term space needs for employees now housed in City Hall, the City Hall Annex and other downtown footprints, and to show the city’s support for downtown property owners by stabilizing tenancy as part of a broader downtown revitalization effort. Engelbrecht said occupancy could begin as soon as the lease is signed, though the city’s use of the space will be informed by an ongoing citywide space-use study.
Council members asked whether the study would include all departments and whether the council and mayor’s offices would be part of the review. Engelbrecht said the consultant (Nail Partners) would examine departments with downtown footprints, including City Hall Annex occupants and other downtown sites, and that the question of including the council and mayor’s offices would be raised with the consultant.
Supporters on the council framed the lease as part of a larger strategy to support downtown vitality and possibly free space in the City Hall Annex for other uses. Council members noted the Osborne offer was below typical market rates (Engelbrecht contrasted the $25.50 starting rent with a roughly $40-per-square-foot market rate cited for other class A space) and praised the rent-free initial year as a concession from the property owner.
The council took the motion to approve the resolution and adopted it unanimously (7–0).
Details recorded at the meeting show the council expects to identify specific occupants after the space-use study is further along; possible uses mentioned include collaboration space for public–private projects supporting downtown revitalization and departments with current space shortages.
The lease resolution provides the city an immediate option to place staff downtown with limited upfront tenant improvement costs while officials pursue a longer-term re-use study for the City Hall Annex.
