Sneak Peek At North Loop Construction Site
Mortenson Construction provides video tour of office tower being built along 5th Avenue
By Mike Binkley, North Loop Volunteer Videographer
What used to be a surface parking lot will soon be a 10-story office tower near 5th and
Washington Avenues. With its red brick facade, it’s designed to blend in with the historic
warehouses and factories of the neighborhood, but it will be packed with high-end amenities.
“You can really see the difference in the office quality down here in the North Loop,” said Mike
McGowan, senior project manager for Mortenson Construction. “They’re really trying to cater
to a clientele that will be upscale, Class A office space in a revitalized area.”
McGowan said the tower, designed by DJR Architecture, will feature more than 200,000 square
feet of office space, with two levels of parking and a street-level space for restaurant or retail.
Published reports have indicated that the tech firm Calabrio, Inc. has signed a lease to be the
anchor tenant. The general contractor, Swervo Development, did not respond to a request for
comment.
Mortenson Construction was brought in to do the concrete and masonry work.
“The exterior brick is done,” said McGowan. “We are now currently laying brick on the inside.
The developer has chosen to recreate the actual look of an old warehouse building so we’re
actually putting brick on the outside of the building and the interior face of the building so the
walls in the office areas will be brick.”
McGowan appreciates the project’s classic design.
“You’ll see that there’s arched windows,” he said. “You’ll even notice that the windows have
muntins in them so it looks like all of the pieces of glass are individual panes of glass to
represent what the old factory or the old industrial look of this neighborhood was originally.”
The backside of the building faces the Minneapolis skyline, and the developer is adding
outdoor spaces on the upper floors for tenants to use.
“It’s going great,” said McGowan. “We should be complete with the job late spring or early
summer we should be looking at getting our certificate of occupancy.”