The Minneapolis Grand Apartments has quite a convoluted history. But last month, the building, which includes 81 apartment units in Minneapolis, might have finally achieved some much-needed stability.
Finance & Commerce earlier this month reported that Kansas City, Mo.-based Assured Quality Exchange Co.-Minnesota LLC bought the building for $6.05 million.
Minneapolis’ Base Management is now managing the building. While the residential apartments are mostly occupied, the 29,000 feet of commercial space on the building’s ground level is mostly empty. Base will have to deal with that.
The building, as Finance & Commerce spells out, has a fairly complicated history, even though it is only six years old. It started out as a condominium project called Chicago Commons. But when the economy bottomed out, and the condo craze crashed, those plans fell through.
During this time, though, Dean Zimmerman, a former member of the Minneapolis City Council, was sentenced to federal prison after he was convicted of taking money from the project’s original developer, Gary Carlson. Carlson had become an informant for the FBI.
A Chicago-based company, Tria Properties, purchased the property in 2007 for $13 million. Tri immediately converted the building into apartment rentals.
This didn’t go too well, either. Tria eventually went into bankruptcy, the property went through foreclosure and the Minneapolis office of Cassidy Turley became the receiver for the property. Eventually, Pittsburgh’s PNC Bank took over ownership of the building, holding it until its recent sale.
It’s uncertain what the future holds for this Minneapolis building. Will the building’s new history be as tumultous as its old? Or will the new owners fill the building’s retail space, keep the apartments rented and finally bring this building into stability?
It’ll be an interesting property to watch, that’s for sure.
