CDT Realty Corporation acquired 20 South Washington Avenue, a historic office property in downtown Minneapolis.
The purchase marks the first step in a thoughtful process to reimagine the site’s future while honoring its role in the city’s architectural and cultural landscape.
The acquisition comes at a time of growing momentum for downtown Minneapolis. As activity continues to return across the urban core, 20 South Washington will help strengthen that progress and support the vitality of the surrounding districts.
This investment signals CDT Realty Corporation’s confidence in Minneapolis’s continued growth and in the role that projects like 20 South Washington play in shaping that future. Located at the corner of Washington and Hennepin Avenues, the property intersects six vibrant neighborhoods and serves as a gateway to downtown, with over 40,000 cars per day passing by. As planning begins, the team’s focus will be on due diligence and evaluation, guided by respect for the building’s history, architecture, and importance within the fabric of downtown.
A standout architectural feature in Minneapolis designed in 1965 by world-renowned architect Minoru Yamasaki, 20 Washington has remained a prominent anchor of downtown for six decades. The 6-story building, commissioned by Northwestern National Life Company was envisioned as a “monument within a park” and core to the city’s redevelopment in the 1950s and 60s envisioned by Yamasaki as a “monument within a park”. The building is recognized for its 63 towering 85-foot white quartz-concrete columns and facade featuring 350 tons of Vermont verde antique serpentine marble.
The building showcases Yamasaki’s refined modernism, including a dramatic portico and reflecting pools along Washington Avenue. Its parkways and trees, sculpture garden, and reflective pools create an immersive architectural experience. Conceived as a civic gesture at a key downtown crossroads, it blends careful engineering with elegant materials and remains a midcentury landmark within the neighborhood’s evolving urban fabric.
