The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources selected River Park Plaza in St. Paul, Minnesota, for its new headquarters, signing a 109,228 useable-square-foot lease for three floors plus space in the basement, for a total of 124,520 square feet of rentable square footage.
DNR will be relocating its headquarters from 500 Lafayette Road in St. Paul, where it has been since 1985.
The transaction represents one of the largest office leases completed in the Twin Cities in recent years and is particularly significant as the region’s office market continues to work through historically high vacancy and changing workplace needs. According to the REDI CRE/MNCAR Market Trends Q2-2026 Market report, the St. Paul CBD multi-tenant office market has an average vacancy rate of 37%, compared to the overall Twin Cities multi-tenant office market vacancy rate of 24.5%.
River Park Plaza, a 330,000 square-foot Class A office building located at 10 River Park Plaza, is owned by SARA Investment Real Estate and managed and leased by Suntide Commercial Realty. Suntide’s Jeff Hart, Kevin Peck and Jim Kenney represented the landlord. DNR is expected to occupy its new headquarters in June of 2027, when the building will be 94% occupied.
SARA Investment Real Estate partnered with Suntide Commercial Realty, Inc. in 2023 to position the property to attract new tenants to fill spaces vacated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past several years, SARA has made significant investments in River Park Plaza, including a series of building improvements recommended by Suntide, including an updated lobby and the creation of the Sky Lounge, complete with a hospitality-type conference center with a rooftop deck facing the Mississippi River and downtown St. Paul skyline. Those investments helped position the property to accommodate a headquarters requirement of this size and complexity.
The transaction also drew on Suntide’s full-service commercial real estate platform. In addition to leasing River Park Plaza, Suntide provides property management services for the building, and its construction and space planning teams were involved throughout the process.
The 125,000-square-foot lease stands out in a Twin Cities office market where large new headquarters transactions have become increasingly uncommon. While the market has seen several significant renewals and consolidations in recent years, relatively few new office leases have exceeded 100,000 square feet.
The DNR headquarters adds a major long-term tenant to River Park Plaza and represents a significant commitment to the St. Paul Central Business District.
