Today is, at long last, the day the Dayton’s Project opens its doors to the public for shopping at a street-level makers market called the Department at Dayton’s. The market features 35 brands—mostly local, independent companies including several new to market that make everything from jewelry and candles to hats, apparel, and crafts.

It’s the first time the historic downtown Minneapolis department store building on Nicollet Mall has been open to shoppers since Macy’s closed in 2017.

We’ve brought retail back to Dayton’s in a way that honors the memory of this historic building and shows a glimpse of its future,” says Mich Berthiaume, retail curator who oversaw vendor selection and development of the market. “If you’re starting to think about holiday shopping, you need to think about The Departments at Dayton’s.”

Dayton’s Project developers plan to run the market for four months, extending it beyond Christmas. Their longterm goal is to fill the skyway, first floor and lower level of the 1.2 million square foot building with permanent retail and restaurants. The rest is designated for office; the first tenant, Ernst & Young, also opened today in a 30,000-square-foot fifth floor suite.

“Our residence at The Dayton’s Project embodies the firm’s commitment to downtown Minneapolis,” Mike O’Leary, EY Minneapolis Office Managing Partner, said in a statement “Our transformed workplace not only means a change to our space itself, but also a change in how we work to support a more flexible, on-demand and agile use of space. The Dayton’s Project and EY US are aligned on the importance of flexibility, collaboration, well-being, and providing technology-enabled and reliable resources to help make our professionals successful in a variety of settings.”

Hours: Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, Noon to 5 p.m.

Best parking: Park and Shop next to Radisson Blu, 35 Seventh St. S. You’ll see signs at the street level entrance pointing the way to the Dayton’s Project

Special events: Pianist Lorie Line will perform at the Departments at Dayton’s  on Monday, Nov. 22 from 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Other live performances, workshops and demonstrations with vendors will take place throughout the holiday season.

Of note: Skyways surrounding the Dayton’s Project currently close at 6 p.m., although that could change soon

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MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A Minneapolis tradition is making a comeback this winter. The 12-story building on Nicollet Mall that was home to the Dayton's department store for decades is bringing a market and holiday display back.

"Many Minnesotans have fond memories of shopping here when it was Dayton's," said Erin Fitzgerald with the Dayton's Project. "Now we get a chance to see what the Dayton's Project is all about... We're so ready. We're so excited about this project."

For decades, Dayton's was the heart of the shopping district in downtown Minneapolis. Now retail is returning to the building that used to house the iconic department chain's flagship store.

"It's been revitalized," added Fitzgerald. "It's been revamped. This is an entirely new Dayton's."

On Monday, we got a sneak peek of The Dayton's Project that will officially open to the public later this week. It includes the Departments at Dayton's, a maker's market of 33 local small businesses, offering everything from Dayton's branded clothing to a Native American gallery featuring items made by Indigenous artists in the former J.B. Hudson Jeweler's space.

"We really see the Dayton's Project as being a vital part of revitalizing downtown Minneapolis so to have these retailers down here as workers come back to the office and to be able to have that going into the holidays," said Fitzgerald. "It's such a great time for them to be here."

For generations of Minnesotans, Dayton's was synonymous with holiday shopping with their Christmas window displays drawing huge crowds to see the fairytale fantasies and winter wonderlands.

"This has been great fun and it's hilarious to see all the bears again," said Dayton's Project Creative Visual Program Director Kent Hensley. "I mean you forget, there were so many."

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Developers of the landmark downtown Minneapolis building are putting in another $7 million to create move-in ready office spaces with social distancing.

Construction on office amenities within the hotly anticipated, long-delayed Dayton’s Project—a $200 million-plus reimagining of the landmark Nicollet Mall department store—is complete, including a library, rooftop terrace and fitness center with boxing ring. There’s just one thing missing: tenants.

Leasing on both the upper level office floors and ground/skyway level retail and restaurants was slow going even before the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the city. But developers say they remain confident—so much so that they will invest another $7 million to convert an additional 140,000 square feet into pre-built offices, ranging from 5,490 to 30,757 square feet, available for immediate occupancy. That’s in addition to 42,000 square feet already complete in two existing spec suites. These offices, which will be ready in a few months, were designed for the Covid era with circulation paths, touchless features, and custom-built desk dividers.

“We’re doubling down on our efforts in Minnesota,” said Brian Whiting, CEO of the Telos Group, one of the developers of the project, in a statement Monday. “Our commitment to the city and state extends beyond the four walls of this building. It includes the jobs we’re creating and the financial investment we’re making to do our part in rebuilding our community after Covid-19’s devastating impacts. We know that the office is still the best place for employees to get their work done, so we’re easing the transition back into the office with Covid-responsive space planning.”

Opening the building for media tours for the first time since the pandemic hit, the Dayton’s Project showed off completed tenant-exclusive amenities including a rooftop terrace with varied seating areas, greenery, fire places and skyline views. Plus, an expansive fitness center, a cozy lounge and a library where phone calls are off-limits.

The reconfigured skyway level now opens onto the first floor with a dramatic staircase. Both floors, along with the lower level, await stores, restaurants, and a food hall.

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For the first time, we are getting a look inside the newly renovated Dayton's project in downtown Minneapolis.

The former legendary department store is turning into an office, retail, and entertainment space. 

The more than $200 million project has a library, lounges and fitness center for people who will work inside the building.

"We have an incredible building that's not repeatable anywhere else and everything in the incredible structure is brand new," developer Brian Whiting with Telos Group said. 

The building has 1.2 million square feet of office space. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the building does not have any tenants. 

"COVID clarity for us means when corporations are feeling comfortable to make decisions on when they are back to work and what their workspace is going to look like after the fact," Whiting said. 

The building is set to open after the spring of 2021. 

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MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — So much history is tied to the Dayton's building on Nicollet Mall. Now the iconic building is entering a new chapter during a historic moment. 

"It's been a multi-year journey. We've taken a 100-year-old-plus building and converted it from a department store to modern office and retail and what you're seeing today is the culmination of that," said Brian Whiting, president of The Telos Group, LLC. The Chicago-based real estate services firm is one of the developers of The Dayton's Project. 

The 1.2 million-square-foot site is ready for its first tenants but COVID-19 has put those plans on hold. Prior to the pandemic, they were in negotiations with tenants and planned on announcing them in April. 

"Throughout corporate America no one is making a decision on real estate unless they absolutely have to," Whiting said. 

RELATED: Andrew Zimmern to open food hall, market in Dayton's Project

The lower level, first and second floors will be dedicated to retail and a food hall curated by celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern. Floors 3-12 will be office space. The seventh floor features amenities for tenants, including a fitness center, library, lounge and rooftop terrace. 

Despite working from home becoming the norm during the pandemic, Whiting said he's confident companies will want office space in the future. 

"We are a social animal and the reason why progressive office space where everyone is together has developed is because that's where the innovation comes, that's where the culture comes," Whiting said. 

But in response to COVID, they've designed office space to be flexible in size. 

"They need to be bigger, we can make them bigger. You need to make them smaller, we can make them smaller. So we've designed that flexibility already into the design," Whiting said. 

The more than $200 million project is investing an additional $7 million to create pre-built office space. 

"We've eliminated nine months of the work, a lot of the design headache and a tremendous amount of the cost by doing it so that when people come back, those spaces are ready to accept them," Whiting said. 

According to Whiting, they don't have a timeline for when tenants and retailers could be moving in to The Dayton's Project but he said they have the wherewithal for a couple years. 

Whiting added, "People ask me what's the new normal and I always say, 'Well, the new normal is going to look a lot like the old normal did.' So it's not a question of what it's going to look like when COVID passes, it's really a question of how long that's going to take and the steps that we're taking in between that time to mitigate the distractions of COVID in the meantime." 

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For full article with all images click here.

It’s been nearly three months since we last toured The Dayton’s Project. We think it’s about time you see just how much progress has been made.

The 1.2 million square foot project has made significant progress since we last visited. While the office space has been largely ready for tenants to begin building out, the retail and amenity space is where we saw the most progress.

Oh, and we should note that this was our first time getting a tour of what will become Dayton’s Market. More on that later.

THREE LEVELS OF RETAIL

When touring the retail space, it was noticeable to see just how close things were to being complete. The wide corridors that will soon become home to a bustle of individuals have had their terrazzo flooring installed, the ceilings painted, and tons of bright lighting has been installed.

While a large of portion of the skyway level opened in early January, the lower level and the atriums have yet to be seen by the public. Trust us, you’ll be impressed.

The main atrium, which spans three levels, is something that will truly become the heart of the project. A grand staircase wraps its way down from the skyway level, through the ground floor and into the basement level which will be the location of Dayton’s Market. The wide-open space will be anchored by a unique and artistic suspended light installation.

DAYTON’S MARKET

Now, we have yet to give you a glimpse of what the food hall and market component of The Dayton’s Project will begin to look like. So, feast your eyes upon these photos. 

While the space that will soon become Dayton’s Market might look a bit heavy in construction right now, we can assure that things are going to change in the next month or so. When all is said and done, we think your mind is going to be blown at the space and all it offers once it’s complete. 

From the photos above you might already notice that there are number of vendor stands being built out. Just how may? Over 45. Yes, you read that correctly.

The space that the food hall will occupy is absolutely massive. It covers just around 45,000 square feet of space on the basement level of the building. It’ll include a number of different food and market vendors that will be centered around a large central bar at the base of the grand staircase.

We do want to note how truly massive this space is. If you’ve ever been to Dekalb Market Hall in Brooklyn, NY, we think you’ll get a very similar feeling in scale when you visit Dayton’s Market. 

It makes sense when you think of the team behind the project. Not only is Celebrity Chef Andrew Zimmern curating the food hall and market but Robert Montwaid, the creator/co-founder of the wildly successful Gansevoort Market in New York City, is another influential individual behind the project. 

Get ready for tenant announcements to begin very soon on who will occupy this massive, and ultimately, delicious space.

TENANT AMENITY SPACE

Last time we visited The Dayton’s Project we toured a spec office space (space that has been built out but not yet leased) along with the spaces that would soon become to the building’s office amenity space.  

Good news. On our latest tour we were able to see much of the seventh-floor amenity space nearly finished and let us tell you, it’s stunning. 

The 10,000 square foot fitness center was nearly ready for its final cleaning. The wide-open space had its boxing rink in place, the special flooring had been laid, and mirrors were being installed on the surrounding walls. The pristine, monochromatic locker rooms were essentially ready for their first occupants, hanging shower curtains in all. Trust us, this space will make you want to get your fitness on.

Walking past the fitness space, down a hallway, we turned and toured the Library. The space had seen a massive transformation since we last saw it. Intricate woodwork upon the walls had since been installed and painted since we last were in the space, modern light fixtures have been hung upon the walls, and built-in lounge space was beginning to be installed along the outer walls of the space. When we say the renderings are spot on when it comes to what this space will look like, we mean it. 

The biggest amenity space, which has also arguably seen the largest transformation since our last visit, was the Winter Lounge. The massive “lounge space” was essentially ready for furniture to begin to be moved in. The private bar, which will have a private, full-time bartender, was nearly complete, the two large fireplaces were filled within flames giving warmth to the space on a cold winter’s day, and hanging from the ceiling a number of large pendant light fixtures had been installed. This space is going to be a space that you’ll certainly want to frequent if you’re one of the lucky individuals that gets to work within this building.

Work on The Dayton’s Project is anticipated to be complete in late spring/early summer. Retailers and office tenants will begin to move into the project around that time and throughout the rest of 2020.

While no tenants have yet to be publicly announced for The Dayton’s Project, we can tell you that you should expect an announcement in the coming weeks. Where? Well, right here at The Development Tracker | Minneapolis of course.

THE TEAMS BEHIND THE DAYTON’S PROJECT

Owners: 601 W Companies, Telos Group and United Properties

Architect and Designer: Gensler Minneapolis

Property Management: Transwestern

Retail Leasing: Mid-America Real Estate

Office Leasing: Transwestern

Owners Rep: Hightower Initiatives

General Contractor: Gardner Builders

Preservation Advisor: New History

Structural Engineer: MBJ

MEP / FP Engineer: MEPC

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MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The old Dayton’s building in downtown Minneapolis is getting new life after Macy’s vacated the building a year and a half ago.

Currently, developers are working to transform the Minneapolis landmark and they gave the public a sneak peek of how construction is going so far Tuesday.

Telos Development Group pulled back the curtain on their project, including what it feels is the heart and soul of the project: A skyway level that connects the Dayton’s Project to the rest of downtown.

The Dayton's Project construction is underway in downtown Minneapolis. The developers showcased their progress so far Tuesday.

In a few months, the construction will bring to life renderings of a retail and office hub that collides restaurant and entertainment space against work space.

On the first floor, where retailers Dayton’s and Macy’s once sold high fashion, a new food hall will replace them. Above it, the retail and entertainment spaces will be housed.

A rendering showing the eventual outcome of downtown Minneapolis' Dayton's Project. (Dayton's Project / FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul)

“People want to have a live-work environment where they can basically wake up, go to the gym and do their shopping, get a coffee, workout and do whatever it is they do and still work and live here from day to day,” said Mercedes Bash, of Telos.

A workspace at the under-construction Dayton's Project building.

The majority of the Dayton’s Project is about business space as the developers are rebuilding the seventh floor with high-end amenities to attract high-end tenants.

The fitness center there features a boxing ring and a full range of cardio equipment and weights. At the other end, the winter lounge will provide access to a deck overlooking downtown.

A rendering showing the food hall at the Dayton's Project. (Dayton's Project)

All of it is still under construction and all of it is part of the new vision for the old building.

The developers would not say how much of the new office space and restaurant spaces are sold and who might be moving in, but they are planning to open the food hall next spring.

A rendering of a staircase at the Dayton's Project building downtown Minneapolis. (Datyon's Project)

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The Dayton’s Project was announced back in 2017 as a plan that would help revitalize downtown Minneapolis with its mid-2019 opening.

However, the mixed-retail office project which occupies the entirety of the old Dayton’s department store building on Nicollet Mall has been hit with delays.

On Tuesday, WCCO’s Esme Murphy got a tour of the project slated to open next spring.

The overall plan for the project is to combine 700,000 square feet of office space on the upper floors, with a combined food court and retail space in the lower floors.

A tour showed most of The Dayton’s Project is still under construction. One area will be a library for tenant use. Another area is set to be a locker room for the 10,000 square foot fitness center.

The lower level food court will be operated by celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern, but The Dayton’s Project’s officials are mum about other tenants.

The Dayton’s Project is one of many downtown spaces either under construction or empty. The Downtown Council insists those spots on Nicollet Mall and in nearby skyways will soon be filled.

“(We were) never worried about skyway space; that comes open, that always leases up. We have got our own pop-up retail that will be coming back in October and November,” Steve Cramer, president of the Downtown Council, said.

Downtown workers walking by the Dayton’s Project just want to see someone move in. Worker Kaia Anderson said she was looking forward to “anything new and exciting. It’s a pretty large space, so it will be cool to see what they do with it.”

While officials say their official opening will be sometime in the spring of 2020, they are hoping that the food court will be open as soon as Valentine’s Day and that construction will be complete by April.

The total cost for renovating the old Dayton’s store is estimated at more than $200 million.

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MINNEAPOLIS — If you work in the heart of downtown Minneapolis, it's hard not to notice the construction.

Especially at 7th and Nicollet.

"There's a lot happening," said Kate Schmidt.

She see's it and wonders when The Dayton's Project will finally open.

"Been going on for a couple years now, but it's very exciting to get something back in the building," said Schmidt.

"I think everyone can be well aware that the project is happening," said Mercedes Barsh with the Telos Group. 

She says Spring 2020 is now the target date.

"A little longer than expected, but I think it was necessary in getting it done right," said Barsh.

Tuesday she gave a tour of what's to come in the old Macy's building.

The development will include a 45,000 square foot Andrew Zimmern food hall and market. That will complement retail space.

Other tenants couldn't be named at this time.

The rest of the building will be turned into office space. It will incorporate the historic architecture of the building.

"Really exciting to be a part of a project like this," said Bob Gardner with Gardner Builders.

He says there is still more work to be done.

"So in terms of being ready for tenants we still have about 20 percent left," said Gardner.

He and so many other now anxiously awaiting for Spring of 2020.

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Progress on the Dayton's project in downtown Minneapolis is moving along, with construction now about 70 percent complete, according to project managers.

The century-old building, formerly home to Dayton's and Macy's department stores, is in the process of being redeveloped. The multi-million dollar project has been in the works for years.

It will eventually feature more than 1 million square feet of office space, shops, restaurants and amenities. The developers have yet to say which businesses have committed but say they are getting ready for tenants.

The Telos Group, part of the development team, told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS they want to pay tribute to the building's rich history while also giving the space a modern feel. The project includes amenities such as a health club with a boxing ring, a library and an all-seasons rooftop lounge.

"People want to have an everyday live-work environment where they can basically wake up, go to the gym, do their shopping, get a coffee, work out, do whatever it is they do," said Mercedes Barsh, of the Telos Group. "They can do it here."

Construction on the project started with demolition in 2017. Developers say the building will open in phases, starting this spring.

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Twin Citians may be eager to peek inside the Dayton’s Project, but developers say an estimated 80 percent of the potential tenants seriously considering space in the landmark mixed-use re-development are companies that would be new to market.

“It’s the first time in my 15 years of commercial leasing that our main competition is not other buildings, but other markets,” says Erin Fitzgerald, principal for Transwestern in Minneapolis, which oversees leasing of office space in the 1.2 million square foot historic department store building. “The common thread is progressive, global organizations that are looking to attract and retain top talent.”

Could the long-awaited Dayton's Project be a catalyst to draw new companies to town? Without offering specifics, Fitzgerald says firms considering the Dayton’s Project tend to be in growth mode and thinking about the quality of life for current and future employees as well as talent pool. Minneapolis tends to get compared to markets like Denver and Austin, Texas, she says.

For the upper floors of the 12-story building, Dayton’s Project is targeting larger users in the 90,000-square-feet range. It’s not about specific industries so much as company mindset, says Mercedes Barsh, vice president of the Telos Group, a partner in the project. “We cater to forward-thinking users that are very employee focused and want their employees to have amenities you won't find anywhere else in the market.” 

On Tuesday, Barsh led a media hard hat tour through portions of the building, including what will be a 10,000-square-foot fitness center for office tenants only that will feature a boxing ring and top-of-the-line exercise equipment. On the seventh floor, a vaulted lounge area with an outdoor deck is beginning to take shape. It, too, is for the exclusive use of tenants.

“Minneapolis is a show-me type city. Now that we have aspects of the project to show, we expect things to move along very quickly,” Barsh says.

Leading the Dayton’s Project development is 601w Companies, which boasts a portfolio of 24 million square feet of commercial property across the country valued at more than $5 billion. But the firm is not well known in Minneapolis, which, Barsh acknowledges, has slowed the leasing process. “In Chicago, you can see the hundreds of millions of dollars 601w has invested and companies will sign on to one of their buildings on spec. Companies here are not making those jumps as quickly just because they don’t know us.”

Tuesday’s tour was the first time cameras have been allowed into the active construction site since a hole was carved out of the second floor to open the skyway level to the main floor of the building, an area designated for stores, restaurants, and the much-discussed food hall, which remains the only confirmed tenant of the entire project. The food hall is now scheduled to open spring of 2020. Whether there will be stores or office tenants in the building at that time remains uncertain. Barsh says the project will open “in stages.”

Mid-America Real Estate is leasing the retail portion of the Dayton's Project—250,000 square feet from the skyway level down to the lower level. “The importance of this project is not lost on us,” Mid-America senior vice president of leasing Tricia Pitchford said in an interview with TCB last week. “We’re really trying to create a unique opportunity to eat, shop and be entertained. We want something unique, that embraces the character and history of the project.”

As with the office side, Mid-America isn’t naming names yet. But Pitchford says her team is looking beyond “obvious mall tenants.” She cited Canada Goose, the luxury outerwear brand that just opened its first Twin Cities location at Mall of America, as a retailer that could have been ideal for Dayton’s Project. “We want to find those users that are new to market, and more of a specialty type experience.”

Of course, selling downtown Minneapolis to retailers has only gotten more challenging in recent years. “We are presenting the facts of downtown demographics,” Pitchford says. “The residential explosion over the last five years is one of the highest in the country. If you only counted the people living and working downtown, we have more than any market needs (to support retail). We just need to change buying habits.”

Most of the retail spaces within the Dayton’s Project will be sized for smaller specialty stores. The largest spaces available are about 30,000 square feet split between two levels. The food hall, which TV personality Andrew Zimmern is helping to curate, will span 45,000 square feet and has space for about 45 vendors. The leasing team wants a mix of prepared and packaged foods; local and national. Pitchford says they've spoken to more than 100 potential vendors. “In the last two weeks, we’ve gotten into deeper discussions with users.”

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Still very much a work in progress, The Dayton’s Project opened its doors to reporters on Tuesday for a behind-the-scenes look at the $214 million renovation of a Minneapolis landmark.

That meant a tour led by members of the project team — which includes New York-based 601W Cos. and The Telos Group of Chicago — but, for now, few details on potential tenants to fill the 12-story, 1.2-million-square-foot former department store when it reopens next year. By all appearances, the project was bustling with workers — some 300 tradespeople a day, on average, according to Telos Group Vice President Mercedes Barsh, who said the project is going through about $9 million a month at its current pace.

“We are moving along very, very quickly” Barsh said.

Without going into specifics, she said there’s been “a slew of activity” on the leasing front recently as the project’s 800,000-plus square feet of office space nears completion. The tour included glimpses of spec office space on the fifth floor of the Nicollet Mall building, as well as some of the market-leading tenant amenities planned for the seventh floor. Those include a 10,000-square-foot fitness center, library and “winter lounge” with a bar and access to a rooftop patio that offers close-up views of the IDS building across the street.

“This is the highest scale of amenities,” Barsh said, 

Steven Bieringer, a senior associate with project architect Gensler Minneapolis, said the building includes floorplates as large as 90,000 square feet for office tenants. It also includes some unusual spaces that may appeal to a limited pool of users, like the windowless eighth floor, a tall-ceilinged auditorium that hosted events like the department store’s annual holiday shows.

Bieringer estimated the project was roughly 70 percent to 80 percent complete. He said some spaces will remain relatively untouched by all the activity, like the former Oak Grill space on the 12^thfloor. That’s just one of the building’s historic features that was retained to ensure the project remained eligible for state and federal tax credits.

Barsh was mum, too, about food hall vendors, but hinted that three groups planning to open stalls in the food hall catered an event for real estate brokers in late September.

But what else will it take to fill those retail spaces?

A dreary picture of Nicollet Mall retail emerged from an August meeting of the Minneapolis Zoning Board of Adjustment, where TriCoastal Group Managing Principal Brian Lipson appeared to request an exemption from city rules requiring street-level retail inside the recently remodeled Renaissance Square building at Fifth Street and Nicollet. Chicago-based TriCoastal and The Davis Cos. of Boston aimed to convert an 8,500-square-foot corner space to offices after struggling to land a retail tenant.

Lipson described the $3 million facelift City Center is undergoing down the street as “a desperate move” to shore up Nicollet Mall retail and told board members The Dayton’s Project was “apparently struggling terribly to land retailers.”

That struck a nerve with the team behind The Dayton’s Project. Asked to respond on Tuesday, Telos marketing head and Vice President Cailin Rogers said Lipson’s comments were “completely unsubstantiated.”

“Leasing activity has been strong,” Rogers contended.

Barsh described the building’s historic status and nostalgic appeal as a potent combination.

“Obviously, the Dayton’s Project means a lot to pretty much every person who grew up in Minnesota or Minneapolis,” she said.

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With the workstations, beanbag chairs and coffee mugs, the fifth floor of the former Dayton’s store in Minneapolis has transitioned from department store to downtown office.

The staged work suite along with a new three-level retail atrium that opens up the bottom floors signify the recent progress at the $214 million Dayton’s Project, which is being rehabbed into a contemporary office and retail complex. But with most floors still incomplete, there is still much work to do.

“Minneapolis is a ‘show me’ type city. … We’ve been working, working, working these last few months, these last few years frankly, but now that we have certain aspects of the project to show, leasing activity has really picked up,” said Mercedes Barsh, vice president of the Chicago-based Telos Group, a partner in the development that has helped lead the planning and execution of the Dayton’s Project.

The 1.2 million-square-foot site on Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis has been shuttered from public view for more than two years since it was sold to New York real estate firm 601W Cos. for $59 million and closed as a Macy’s department store. Leaders of the project wouldn’t say if any office tenants have signed leases. The only confirmed retailer is a food hall developed by television personality Andrew Zimmern, though leaders have hinted that another dining establishment will occupy the old JB Hudson Jewelers space on the ground floor.

But the project is inching closer to completion with a large atrium that was cut between floors to connect the food hall in the basement with first-floor and skyway retail. Designers are nearly finished with an office suite on the fifth floor that will be used in large part as a marketing tool to help potential tenants imagine offices at the site.

This past summer, the project was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and new Dayton’s signage was erected on the outside of the building.

But the Dayton’s Project is still very much a work in progress. More than 300 workers can be found on site each day, and about $9 million is spent on the project each month, Barsh said.

During a Tuesday morning tour, workers were sanding the ceiling in one section and welding in another.

“Every day something new happens,” said Bob Gardner, chief executive of Gardner Builders, the general contractor for the project. “A wall that wasn’t there before is there today.”

Opening the atrium was a “complicated task” because it actually cut through two structures made of different materials that are part of the site, Gardner said. With its grand staircases, the atrium was a major design component of the project, which is being designed by the Gensler firm’s Minneapolis office.

Most elements of the redevelopment such as the food hall will not be finished until the spring of 2020. The amenity floor — which will include a 10,000-square-foot fitness center with a boxing ring, a library-like study and an indoor “winter lounge” — had been previously planned for an end-of-November reveal but now is scheduled for completion in the spring as well. Some of the delay was due to the large scale of the amenities and the quality that developers want to deliver with the project, Barsh said.

“I don’t believe that after the Dayton’s Project, there will be a building that has bigger and better amenities [in Minneapolis],” said Erin Fitzgerald, a principal with Transwestern, which is responsible for office leasing.

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The oldest portion of the Dayton's complex, the original building at S. 7th Street & Nicollet Avenue, shown in a 1960 file photo, was built in 1902. The building has been designated for the National Register of Historic Places.

The designation by the National Park Service makes the store — actually a complex of three buildings and a parking garage at the center of downtown Minneapolis — eligible for federal tax credits and other incentives.

“We’re doing a historically sensitive renovation, and this allows us to illustrate to the public our commitment to that,” said Brian Whiting, president of the Chicago-based Telos Group, a partner in the redevelopment. “It also opens the door to certain tax credits that help overcome the cost.”

For decades the flagship store of Dayton’s Co., forerunner of Target Corp., the 1 million-square-foot complex is being renovated for offices, new retailers, restaurants, a food hall, fitness center and other uses, and is due to open next spring.

Its listing on the National Register raises the likelihood that more elements of the building — from the offices of the founding Dayton family executives to the sweeping curves of the Skyroom salad bar — will remain.

“When you walk into the building, you’ll still get that feeling that you’re walking into Dayton’s department store,” Whiting said.

Owner 601W Cos. of New York began pursuing the designation shortly after buying the complex in January 2017 from Macy’s Inc., which closed its store there in March that year. Macy’s acquired the building in a merger with another department store firm in 2005.

With its partners, 601W aims to capitalize on the building’s location and its history as the figurative center of Minnesota retailing. It dubbed the makeover the “Dayton’s Project” and even licensed the old Dayton’s logo.

601W hired New History, a Minneapolis-based consulting firm, to help pursue the National Register designation. Despite the age of the complex and the role that Dayton’s played in the lives of many Minnesotans, getting the building complex onto the National Register “was not a slam dunk,” said Meghan Elliott, founding principal at New History.

“There’s no question that what it represents — the Dayton Co. and its impact on retailing and philanthropy here and throughout the country — is an important story,” Elliott said. “The concern was whether you could still see that story in the building despite the number of changes to it.”

Her firm’s research showed 14 phases of construction at the complex, the first in 1902 with a three-story building at S. 7th Street and Nicollet Avenue. As well, its very nature as a store meant the inside of the building underwent numerous physical changes through the decades.

“What people remember from, say, the last 20 years wasn’t really anything that it looked like historically,” Elliott said. “We knew it was really important to the economic viability of the project to make a good case that you could still see the history in the building.”

As they pursued the National Register designation, 601W and Telos were negotiating with historic preservationists about changes they planned to make as part of the renovation, including creating an atrium-like area by cutting away some of the floor on the first and second levels.

With the National Register designation, the developers and tenants will be forced to preserve more of the older elements of the Dayton’s building. They will also get the financial break for doing so. 601W and Telos undertook a similar strategy to renovate Chicago’s Old Main Post Office.

“There’s a lot of things in here that would be much easier if we just ripped down and built new. Plaster ceilings, columns, things like that fall within the [National Register] guidelines,” Whiting said.

“We don’t mind doing this. It’s part of the image that we want in this project, but it does add extra cost and extra burdens to the leasing process,” Whiting added. “The historic designation gives us the opportunity to offset some of those so we can go down this route.”

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The former Dayton’s department store in downtown Minneapolis now has an official place in national history to match its place in the hearts of Minnesotans. The building at 700 Nicollet Mall has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. Developers of the Dayton’s Project, a mixed use office, retail, and dining concept slated to open in Spring of 2020, applied for the historic designation of the landmark building, which served as a flagship for Dayton’s, and then Marshall Field's and Macy’s department stores, for more than 100 years.

More than 95,000 properties nationwide are listed in the National Register, which is maintained by the National Park Service. The designation makes the Dayton’s Project eligible for federal tax credits and grant programs. 
 
“The Dayton’s building has been central to Minnesota’s economy and culture for generations and we are committed to preserving this legacy,” Brian Whiting, president of Telos Group, LLC. said in a statement. Telos is developing the Dayton's Project with 601w Companies. “We’re proud to receive this historic designation and look forward to unveiling The Dayton’s Project as a renewed center of culture and entertainment to a whole new generation of Minnesotans.” 

The Dayton’s Project will feature a 45,000-square-foot food hall and market curated by Minneapolis-based chef and TV personality Andrew Zimmern with Robert Montwaid of Gansevoort in New York. Blueprints call for retail shops on the street and skyway levels and a restaurant in the former JB Hudson space, but no tenants have been announced. Same goes for the upper level offices, which will include exclusive amenities such as a rooftop terrace, private lounge and fitness center. 

Construction on the 12-story, 1.2 million square foot building began in 2017. It was originaly slated to open this year. Developers have said the historic designation process was a factor in the delay.

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A grand former jewelry store may become a restaurant next year.

As work moves along on the Dayton’s Project, a 45,000-square-foot food hall and market taking over the former Dayton’s department store, its developers have announced that the space that used to house JB Hudson Jewelers (until 2008, when the jewelers moved) on the corner of 8th St. and Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis will be turned into a history-filled dining establishment.

“Converting the JB Hudson space into a restaurant will offer a completely original dining experience in one of the most historic and iconic buildings in Minneapolis,” said Tricia Pitchford, senior vice president of leasing at Mid-America Real Estate, in a release.

The space has a “distinguished” front-of-house with wood-paneled columns, ornate coffered ceilings, a double staircase and other historic elements. There will also be an outdoor patio and a dedicated entrance on Nicollet Mall (The jewelry store is now housed a block away, at 901 Nicollet Mall.)

The Dayton’s Project renovation has encountered delays that have set back its previously announced fall 2019 opening to spring 2020.

That corner of Nicollet Mall has been quiet for some time. It may become a little livelier later this year, when 801 Chophouse opens at RSM Plaza, in a former Barnes & Noble.

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The massive undertaking that is the revitalization of the grand dame of downtown shopping needs someone brave enough to take on the task of opening a new restaurant. The Dayton’s Project put out the call for someone to open an eatery inside the former J.B. Hudson jewelry store. The elegant space is on the ground floor, facing Nicollet Mall and would have room for both indoor seating and a sidewalk patio.

The Dayton’s Project is the aptly named undertaking of revitalizing the multi-storied retail location that was once also called Marshall Fields and for a brief, dismal period, Macy’s.

The multi-use building will play up the historic details of Dayton’s while creating useful modern spaces for shopping, dining, and office space. Overseeing the food hall development is Andrew Zimmern’s Passport Hospitality. The Bizarre Foods host is also working on a food hall in Atlanta.

The Dayton’s Project projected opening is spring 2020.

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Developers of The Dayton’s Project in downtown Minneapolis are hoping to lure a unique restaurant to the former JB Hudson Jewelers space in the former Dayton’s/Marshall Field’s/Macy’s department store. That’s no surprise: it’s been part of the plan all along.

But Jesseka Doherty, vice president of leasing for Mid-America Real Estate-Minnesota, says that after historic review it’s become clearer what the guidelines will be for someone leasing the space.

“The way the space is today is how it needs to remain,” she says.

The development team worked with the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service to get the property listed on the National Register of Historic Places. That allows developers access to historic tax credits, which can be an important source of equity for overhauling vintage properties.

Though there are few windows, the space includes wrought-iron gates, stone and marble staircases, and vintage jewelry cases. Doherty hopes that those can be assets for the right concept.

Doherty says that the leasing team is hoping to attract “a steakhouse, a speakeasy, something unique.” Mid-America Real Estate-Minnesota is handling the leasing of the retail space in the Dayton’s Project.

The restaurant space is about 8,500 square feet. Doherty says that there’s roughly 225,000 square feet of total retail space throughout the project. Beyond plans for a 40,000-square-foot food hall, no other leases have been announced.

Kitty-corner from the JB Hudson space, a new steakhouse is slated to open this fall in the former Barnes & Noble bookstore.

The Dayton’s Project is currently set to open in spring 2020.

New York-based 601w Companies acquired the 12-story building for $59 million in 2017. Minneapolis-based United Properties and Chicago-based Telos Group are also part of the development team. In broad strokes, the concept has been for a mixed-use project combining approximately 750,000 square feet of office space with the retail components.

JB Hudson Jewelers has a longer history than Dayton’s in downtown Minneapolis. The business started in 1885 in its first shop at 230 Nicollet Avenue. JB Hudson moved into the Dayton’s building in 1929 when it was purchased by the Dayton Co. It is now owned by the Pohlad family. JB Hudson moved a block down the street to the Young Quinlan Building in 2007.

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Much like the footsteps that echo through the skyway today, Dayton's department store was once the heartbeat of downtown Minneapolis.

"There were other stores at the time, but Dayton's was the best," said Susie Quinn, who started shopping at Dayton's in the 1970s when she was 19.

Renovation of the century-old building into a mixed-use complex with retail and office space is largely taking place out of sight inside of the historic building's walls. It has passersby curious about the project's progress.

"It seems to be taking a long time," Quinn said.

"It's a real honor to be involved in a project like this that's not just the brick and mortar, but also part of the fabric of this community," Don Kohlenberger said.

Kohlenberger, who represents the building's new New York City-based owners, The 601W Companies, said construction is about 50 percent complete. But, tearing down walls and revealing the big windows that face Nicollet Mall has shined a light on decades of hidden history.

From classic wallpaper to vintage Vikings tickets and a stamp machine stuck in time with the price still posted at 8 cents each – workers have uncovered some treasured artifacts of decades past.

Kohlenberger showed KSTP a few examples of some 1940s-era Easter eggs. Workers found a forgotten crate under a staircase with more than 1,000 inside. There are delivery slips with a Dayton's logo that dates back to 1918 and even a worn pair of shoes believed to have belonged to a busy store clerk, who you can just imagine rushed around the big building helping countless customers.

"That person went through layer and layer and layer of resoled shoes until they finally gave out," Kohlenberger said.

They also found a wallet, which they believe was lost in the store in the 1950s. They're using the contents to track down the original owner.

"Not all articles are our possession, some of these are articles that were lost and that's an ultimate goal for us to reunite those," Kohlenberger said.

The developers are also asking the public to share their memories of Dayton's on social media, using the hashtag #TheDaytonsProject.

"I remember having such a bad cough, and I went down there to get some cough medicine and I was coughing so much they sat me down and gave me water first," Quinn said, as she reminisced about one of her memorable visits.

Project leaders said they are considering different ways to feature some of the old items they found during renovations in the completed building.

The building is scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2020.

You can take a peek at some of the items found in the building in the photo gallery below.

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The downtown Minneapolis space is slated to open to the public in a year (0:35). WCCO This Morning – March 25, 2019

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Developers released new design renderings for the Dayton's Project in downtown Minneapolis.

The 12-story building at 700 Nicollet was home to the iconic Dayton's department store for decades and will soon be a place for retail, dining and office spaces. The building is set to open to the public in spring 2020.

Renderings from Gensler show the 45,000-square-foot dining hall, rooftop terrace, private event spaces and gym facility are also in the works.

The project partners are working with the State Historic Preservation Office to preserve parts of the iconic landmark, including the Art Deco bathrooms and JB Hudson space.

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Lunchtime walkers through the Minneapolis skyway at the former Dayton’s department store may see few signs of progress nearly two years since the building went dark for its highly touted rehab. Coiled wires snake down from the ceiling, and temporary walls block all but a narrow pathway.

But out of sight, behind those walls, work has been progressing. In another week, contractors are scheduled to begin to cut the openings in the store’s lower floors to create a large atrium that will be a signature design element of Dayton’s latest evolution.

“We have been hanging on pins and needles to get going on stuff that people will see, but in a project like this 80 percent of the project is that back-of-the-house stuff that you never see,” said Brian Whiting, president of the Chicago-based Telos Group, a partner in the Dayton’s development that has helped lead the planning and execution. “The project has moved forward.”

Still, the renovation has encountered delays. The debut of retailers including a food hall originally planned for this summer won’t happen until at least the spring of 2020, and a major office tenant critical to the project’s success has yet to be signed.

The delays don’t appear to faze the key players betting big money on the Dayton’s development, and they point to the even more ambitious overhaul they’re piloting at downtown Chicago’s Old Main Post Office as evidence of a large-scale revamp that can overcome obstacles common with industrial-sized rehabs.

New York real estate firm 601W Cos., which owns both projects, will spend more than $1 billion combined to transform both neglected structures into modern retail and office complexes. Many of the hurdles that have plagued Dayton’s, including the design challenges of renovating a nonconforming structure with large expanses of floor space and historic restrictions, already have been navigated in the Windy City.

Construction workers in hard hats scurried around the dark belly of the abandoned Old Post Office in downtown Chicago on a recent sunny day as Brian Whiting, the Telos Group president, gushed about the renovation’s progress.

“This is the drama,” he said, as he excitedly pushed up an overhead door that opened to the Chicago River in a city where his team of marketers and leasing agents has repositioned several signature skyscrapers, including the Aon Center and Prudential Plaza.

On any given day, a couple hundred construction workers can be found in the bowels of the Old Post Office, which at 2.5 million square feet is more than double the size of the Dayton’s project, as they try to bring the faded structure back to life.

A rhythm section of jackhammers and drills accompanies contractors as they install escalators, polish concrete floors and do other work to get the space ready for tenants. Pharmacy company Walgreens plans to start to build its space in April so it can move 1,800 employees into the Post Office in the fall.

“We were very attracted to the open floor plan,” said Joe Brady, divisional vice president of real estate for Walgreens.

The Post Office, which is split down the middle by the Eisenhower Expressway that runs beneath it, had been vacant for about 20 years before 601W Cos. bought it in 2016 for a reported $130 million.

Similar to Dayton’s, the Post Office is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which allows it to qualify for federal historic tax credits. It has been designated a local historic landmark, which helped 601W secure a $100 million tax break from the city, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. But it took longer to get through planning than expected, and compromises had to be made.

During a tour, Whiting pointed to a hallway that divides a floor that preservation experts wanted 601W to keep. Designers came up with a compromise to leave the concrete columns and mosaic tiled floor but open up the walls.

Dayton’s historic holdups

At Dayton’s, the back and forth between developer and local preservation officials has led to construction delays with retail tenants as well as office tenants expected to be able to occupy and open their spaces early next year.

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The designers working on the old Dayton’s building in downtown Minneapolis are showing off some new designs for the Dayton’s Project.

The designers worked with acclaimed chef Andrew Zimmern to come up with the layout, with the aim of preserving the history of the building.

The new renderings for the retail areas show how they’ve added stair railings to reflect a 1920s art deco feel.

The builders have pulled out nearly 1,200 dumpsters worth of demolition debris. They are recycling 75 percent of it.

The builders say they’ve found some delightful surprises along the way.

“We’ve uncovered an old water fountain that was hidden behind a wall that was built that’s an amazing archaeological kind of artifact,” said Bob Gardner, the CEO of Gardner Builders. “We’ve also found nesting eggs, like Easter eggs.” 

Gardner said those eggs were in their original boxes from the 1950s.

Those eggs may be put on display along with other artifacts from the building.

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Construction cranes have become as familiar a sight in the Twin Cities as snowbanks. But billions of dollars in investments — sometimes years in the making — don't always translate into eye-grabbing design. Fortunately, whether it's a brand-new building or a sensitive remake of an old one, the local landscape occasionally hits the design jackpot. Here are 10 projects, in various stages of the completion pipeline, that should elevate the Twin Cities' architectural profile in the not-so-distant future.

Hennepin Healthcare Clinic and Specialty Center

This consolidation effort places more than two dozen far-flung clinics and practices under a single, convenient roof. From the street, the colorful and welcoming six-story structure is the exact opposite of its neighbor, the colossally grim Hennepin County Medical Center, a 1975 concrete fortress that turns its back on the street with such force that, if it were a person, it would require the services of a chiropractor. This $225 million newcomer deftly connects to the city with an undulating glass facade that vividly demonstrates its purpose in a single glance. Opening March 26.

Architects: BWBR, St. Paul

The Dayton’s Project

A private investment of nearly $200 million will restore this historic megastructure (portions of which date to 1902) to its rightful place as a downtown crossroads. Most of the former department store’s 12 aboveground floors will be converted to office space, but the public will find plenty of reasons to visit, with three levels (basement, street and skyway) devoted to retail and a massive food hall. One of the project’s most appealing features — and there are many — is the way it will make the building’s key relationship to Nicollet Mall more porous and inviting. Opening in 2019.

Architects: Gensler & Associates, Mpls.

Hub Minneapolis

If nothing else, its 284-foot height is working wonders to reduce the menacing presence of its hulking, Brutalist neighbors on the University of Minnesota’s main campus, the Malcolm Moos Health Sciences Tower (295 feet) and Phillips-Wangensteen Building (210 feet), arguably the state’s ugliest high-rises. But this 26-story apartment tower is more than a skyline tranquilizer. It’s a glass-sheathed, $100 million investment in urban density (when it opens this summer, its 430 units will house nearly 700 students), and its contemporary design is a welcome departure from the interchangeable low-rise apartments that have sprung up near the U. Here’s hoping that some of the dining institutions that it replaced (the Village Wok, the Big 10) will return to the building’s first floor.

Architects: Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture, Chicago

Thrivent Financial

A welcome trend taking place in the downtown Minneapolis area awkwardly labeled “East Town” is the steady disappearance of lifeless parking lots. In this just-announced project, the half of the block that faces the historic Armory will be reserved for a soft-spoken home for Thrivent (the modest eight-story profile recalls the company’s beloved midcentury gem at 7th Street and 2nd Avenue S., demolished in 1997), with a mid-2020 opening. In addition, a 150-unit apartment building and a 120-room hotel will line up along the block’s 7th Street side. The multiuse mix is reminiscent of the compact, full-block Kraus-Anderson development just to the south, which contains a headquarters for the construction firm, along with apartments, Finnegans House brewery and taproom and the opening-in-September Elliot Park Hotel.

Architects: HGA, Mpls.

Consolidated Public Office Building

It’s a mystery why anyone believed that a parking ramp was a suitable use for this prime address, across from the Hennepin County Government Center’s north plaza. But after the 27-year-old ramp (pictured) comes down in June, it’ll be replaced by a municipal office building that will centralize city operations from six downtown buildings into this single user-friendly facility. The design hasn’t been finalized, but a public presentation last month wisely emphasized large, interconnected public spaces on both the street and skyway levels. Opening in 2020.

Architects: MSR, Mpls., and Henning Larsen, New York City

RSM Plaza

While the Dayton’s Project is grabbing most of the attention, this remake of the former Barnes & Noble space, nearing completion, is also worth watching. On the second floor, the 20-story office tower’s clumsy skyway connection to the IDS Center has been smartly realigned, with the addition of a sunlit concourse that overlooks 8th Street. New escalators connect the skyway to an airy, two-story lobby, which also includes a prominent Nicollet Mall front door, a detail fudged in the original 1969 design. Both levels will feature a handful of retail/restaurant tenants. Best of all, a dreary and underutilized pocket park — blighted, for decades, by a cartoonish faux-Williamsburg portico — is being repurposed into an attractive outdoor gathering spot that should debut by late May.

Architects: Perkins+Will, Mpls.

The Trailhead

This public-private partnership, a collaboration between the Loppet Foundation and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, will create a year-round hub for outdoor activities in the city’s largest park. The facility will include a bike/ski/snowboard rental shop, a Cajun-themed cafe, public locker rooms and restrooms, a fitness space and a conference room. The building’s contemporary, angular design will practice what it preaches by placing an emphasis on indoor/outdoor connections. Opening this summer.

Architects: HGA, Mpls.

Bell Museum

Decades in the making, the dramatic new home of this 144-year-old natural history resource is expected to lure three times as many visitors as the museum’s former home on the University of Minnesota’s Minneapolis campus. Strikingly clad in steel and rough-sawn white pine from northern Minnesota, the $79.2 million project not only includes galleries, labs, a planetarium and a pollinator-friendly landscape designed for learning, it also acts as a great-looking gateway to the St. Paul campus. Opening midsummer.

Architects: Perkins+Will, Mpls.

Minnesota Museum of American Art

After moving into the historic Pioneer Endicott complex in 2013, this under-the-radar museum (and its gem of a collection) is finally gaining the much-needed gallery and arts education space it deserves. Hurrah! The expansion earns serious bonus points for emphasizing street-level square footage, which will hopefully inject a jolt of energy into downtown St. Paul’s somnolent sidewalk scene. The opening is scheduled for year’s end.

Architect: VJAA, Mpls.

Allianz Field

It’s architecture as billboard. What could be better advertising for Minnesota’s professional soccer team than seeing this flying saucer-like stadium while speeding down I-94? The steel frame is going up quickly, giving sidewalk superintendents a glimpse of the structure’s curvaceous profile. When it opens in spring 2019, this 19,400-seat beauty will glow at night, thanks to a constellation of LED lights and a translucent polymer mesh screen stretched across its shell. Unlike previous stadiums, its landscape will feature green space rather than a sea of parking lots.

Architects: Populous, Kansas City, Mo.

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Terrazzo floors! Unearthed, beneath the white tiles on the first floor of the iconic downtown Minneapolis department store building now called the Dayton’s Project. As demolition continues inside the 1.2 million-square-foot space, which is being totally repurposed with a mix of office, retail, and dining, new revelations keep coming. Like a marble drinking fountain, discovered in a wall on the fourth floor near the art deco women’s restroom (which is being preserved), and Spanish tile under the carpet in the old J.B. Hudson space.

So far, 1,200 dumpsters worth of materials and debris have been removed from the building at Seventh and Nicollet. About 75 percent of it is recyclable, says Bob Gardner, CEO of Gardner Builders, one of several entities involved in the project.

Anxious to keep the excitement going with work happening behind walls, developers offered the media another peek inside the construction zone on Tuesday to see the progress. Other than the 40,000-square-foot Andrew Zimmern-curated food hall designated for the lower level, no retail or office tenants have been announced.

While leasing talks are underway, design elements continue to be adjusted with each new building discovery: elevated platforms by the first-floor windows facing Nicollet; staircases that can’t be removed. New renderings of the public areas of the building feature 1920s art deco details and lighting in bold colors.

The complicated project requires construction managers to meet every week with an historic preservation expert on redevelopment decisions. New owners hope to get the property added to the National Register of Historic Places, which would make it eligible for tax credits.

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The old Dayton’s in downtown Minneapolis will soon be updated with open mezzanines, sweeping high ceilings, shops and offices. And some of its quirks, like the bathroom with turquoise sinks on the fourth floor, will still be there.

Balancing modern design with the history of Minnesota’s grandest department store is a key challenge for the developers who this year bought the three-building complex on Nicollet Mall that for a century was the headquarters and flagship store of Dayton’s and was most recently occupied by Macy’s.

The new owners, 601W Cos. of New York, and their local development partners are hoping to revive the Dayton’s name and logo as they aim to make the building once again the center of retailing in downtown Minneapolis by 2019.

The lower levels of what they are now calling “the Dayton’s Project” will be filled with stores, restaurants and a food hall with a mix of trendy vendors and dining options. The upper floors will be office space with a health club and large outdoor terrace.

“What we are looking for is to be a destination,” said Brian Whiting, president of the Telos Group, a minority owner in the project.

If the retail portion of the building succeeds, it would be a much-needed boost for Nicollet Mall, which lost stores during a $50 million makeover that began in July 2015 and is nearing completion.

A rendering of one of the spaces in the revamped Macy's/Dayton's building in downtown Minneapolis. Plans call for a mix of retail, restaurants and a high-energy food hall as well as Modern office spaces with assorted meeting areas.

The building joins a growing list of old department stores that are getting new lives. In St. Paul, tenants have already started to move into the former Macy’s building that’s been turned into offices, shops and the practice home of the Minnesota Wild. In St. Louis and Pittsburgh, developers are turning downtown sites last occupied by Macy’s into apartments, offices and shops.

The downtown Minneapolis property is actually three buildings that add up to about 1.3 million square feet, about the size of 10 Target stores.

Though not the height of a skyscraper, the buildings have the space of one. Work crews are already tearing out walls and fixtures that remained from Macy’s, which owned the building for the past decade and sold it to 601W for $59 million in March.

The new owner and its partners will spend tens of millions more to update the buildings, the oldest of which dates to 1902. Some early renderings of their ideas leaked on the internet this month, but they provided the Star Tribune with updated versions for this article. On Monday, they plan to formally share the plans with the public.

Also last week, they invited interested parties to walk through the buildings. Among them: Gov. Mark Dayton and his sons Eric and Andrew, descendants of the founder of the Dayton’s chain.

“Fun to see the Dayton’s name carry on in the building,” Andrew Dayton said.

Eric Dayton, who has been campaigning for downtown property owners and workers to return to the streets from the skyways, said he was impressed by the developers’ ideas for opening up the building to Nicollet Mall.

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — It’s a back-to-the-future makeover for the historic downtown building that was the original Dayton’s department store.

In its last incarnation, the downtown Minneapolis building was home to Macy’s, but the building will once again bear the Dayton name.

Renderings unveiled Monday show a mix of food hall, retail and office space.

A seventh-floor terrace which has gone unused for generations will be transformed to an outdoor work and entertainment space.

The building will be known as the Dayton’s Project. The ambitious $250 million renovation seeks to capitalize on the architectural details of the original building and could provide a badly needed boost to a declining retail and restaurant scene on the Nicollet Mall.

The renovation has already let the sun into the historic space by uncovering windows shuttered for decades to keep shoppers from being distracted.

“It’s the beginning of the process of transforming the building from the introverted environment that it has become to one that engages to city and the outside as it was originally intended,” Brian Whiting, president of The Telos Project, said.

Plans include a food hall in the basement, street and skyway level retail shops with easy access for pedestrians, and large office spaces on the top nine floors. Office tenants will have access to amenities including a full service gym, a library and that seventh-floor rooftop terrace with seating, fire pits, work and entertaining spaces.

The terrace, unused for decades, features stunning city views. As for the old wood-paneled JB Hudson space, developers are hoping to attract a restaurant.

Dayton family members, including Gov. Mark Dayton, have toured the site. The governor’s son Eric tweeted his support saying, “This is an important and exciting project for Downtown Minneapolis; I’m proud to have our name attached.”

City officials hope this project — as well as the completion of the nearly three-year Nicollet Mall construction — will lead the way for business to return downtown.

Steve Cramer, the President of the Downtown Council said,

“This one-two punch is going to be tremendous for our downtown and send a signal we are open for other retail and entertainment business along Nicollet,” Steve Cramer, president of the Downtown Council, said.

Gov. Dayton has not released a statement.

The office spaces are expected to be ready sometime next year, the retail and food hall are scheduled for completion by the summer of 2019.

Negotiations with possible tenants are underway, but developers are not naming any names at this point.

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For years after it became Marshall Field’s, and then Macy’s, many stubborn, nostalgic locals insisted on referring to the site of 700 Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis as Dayton’s. Now, it appears that Dayton’s is back—sort of.

Over the weekend, workers were busy installing the beginnings of what the building’s new owners are referring to as "The Dayton’s Project." According to an article published over the weekend in the Star Tribune, the company is hoping to revive the Dayton’s name and logo and make the building the center of retail in downtown Minneapolis by 2019.

The building was originally home to a dry goods business, R.S. Goodfellow & Company, then the fourth-largest department store in Minneapolis. The six-story building was constructed by George Draper Dayton, Dayton's founder, in 1902. By 1903, Dayton bought the company and renamed the store Dayton's Dry Goods Company. In 1969, the Detroit-based J.L. Hudson Company merged with the Dayton Company to form the Dayton-Hudson Corporation (later Target Corporation). In 2001, Dayton’s was rebranded as a Marshall Field's store, and in 2004, Target Corp. sold its department store holdings to May Department Stores, rebranding the store once again, this time as Macy’s. The Macy’s iteration closed earlier this year, though it had long since lost its sparkle.

According to renderings of the revamped building, the new Dayton’s will look quite different inside. The new owners plan to cut away a portion of the first two levels to create an atrium-like space connected by grand staircases instead of escalators. The basement also will be substantially renovated. These lower levels will be filled with stores, restaurants, and a food hall with a mix of trendy vendors and dining options, while the upper floors of the mixed-use development will hold office space with a health club and large outdoor terrace.

But despite the major facelift, the new owners and designers are promising that the spirit of Dayton’s will remain intact. “This building has a great history, lot of good memories around it,” says Steven Bieringer of local architecture firm Gensler, one of the project’s designers, in the Star Tribune article. “So we are not going to be altering that, [or] those portions of the building.”

Many of the iconic elements of the original Dayton’s will remain, such as the infamous fourth-floor bathroom with retro turquoise sinks and tile. The new owners are also hoping to use some portions of the Oak Grill restaurant in another public part of the complex. They also are hoping to attract a restaurant for the original JB Hudson jewelry boutique on the first floor.

Of course, much of the magic belonging to the old Dayton’s is destined for the history books. Gone are the eighth-floor holiday displays and flower shows, along with the Glamorama fashion show, the Oval Room, and the painted-cloud ceilings of the Skyroom. Whether the new Dayton’s complex will recapture any of that je ne sais quoi is yet to be seen. (And no word yet on whether the iconic green marble floors will remain.) But at least we can rightfully call it “Dayton’s” again—without being corrected.

In the meantime, you can stop by and check out the new "The Dayton's Project" installation, now on view:

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At a press conference Monday morning, the owners of the former Macy's building in downtown Minneapolis unveiled new design plans that call for a $250 million investment.

With 1.2 million square feet to renovate, the building's office spaces are set to open in early 2019, with retail and the rest of the building's offerings following later that year. In a nod to the popular former store, it is being called the "Dayton's Project."

The property was acquired by New York-based 601W Companies for $59 million earlier this year, following the closure of Macy's flagship store. The company partnered with The Telos Group, LLC to come up with the design.

The upper floors are being developed for big, unique office spaces. The lower two floors will feature retail space, while a food market for dozens of vendors is planned for an underground level.

Brian Whiting, the President of The Telos Group, said he envisions the building being a seven-day-a-week destination, breathing even more new life into downtown.

"I hope they look forward to coming here for lunches, for after-hour work events, for evening food and entertainment and for sporting events," Whiting said. "What we hope to be is that sort of cultural entertainment center for the entire downtown." 

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“So many people had memories here. … It’s a challenge and it’s a potential benefit too,” said Whiting, president of the Chicago-based Telos Group, a minority owner in the project.

The conversion of the old downtown store into modern offices and stores will cost at least $250 million, developers announced Monday. That includes the $59 million purchase price that new owners 601W Cos. of New York paid earlier this year for the three-building complex.

The plan is for the more than 1 million square feet of space to be transformed with stores, restaurants and a lively food hall to occupy the first two floors and lower level and new offices for an estimated 4,000 workers to take up the rest of the 12 floors.

The redevelopment is being called “the Dayton’s project.” According to records from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 601W Cos. filed an application for the Dayton’s trademark last month. Already developers have begun using the Dayton’s name in their marketing, including a website and large posters on the skyway level of the building.

The store, which in recent years had operated as a Macy’s, has been shuttered since March. Many Minnesotans remember the store from its previous life as the flagship Dayton’s department store which brought thousands to shop along Nicollet Mall.

“I just really couldn’t think of a better scenario for Minneapolis,” said Steve Cramer, president and chief executive of the Minneapolis Downtown Council.

Cramer, who spoke during a news conference Monday announcing the Dayton’s project, said the tie between the store’s redevelopment and the multimillion makeover of Nicollet Mall “couldn’t be stronger or more timely.”

“To me, this one-two punch is going to be tremendous for our downtown and send the signal that we are open for other retail and entertainment business along Nicollet,” he said.

Redevelopment is a daunting task for a complex that has old mechanical systems and asbestos alongside local treasures such as the old Oak Grill restaurant on the top floor and the elaborate JB Hudson jewelry store on the first floor.

Developers said they are working with local and federal historic preservation officials to determine what features of the old department store to save and the best way to preserve them.

Workers are taking apart each floor starting with the fifth. The age of the complex — the oldest of the buildings dates back to 1902 — means there could be construction challenges hidden behind the walls. “As we are starting to open up the layers upon layers that have been cast on this building as a department store over the years, we’ll find challenges,” Whiting said.

No office or retail tenants have been signed, but he said there has been a lot of interest. The complex would mostly be complete in 2019, but it’s possible that some office tenants could move into the space as early as next year.

At about $190 million in teardown and construction costs, the makeover of the Dayton’s complex will become one of the most expensive projects in the Twin Cities at the moment. The new hotel built this year at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport had a budget of $115 million, the makeover of the main terminal $200 million and a new airport parking ramp $240 million.

“It’s really easy to spend money on a project like this,” Whiting said. “I always say it would be easier to just tear it down and start again, but then you would lose all that history and culture and nostalgia that is what’s attracting people.”

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Construction is beginning to heat up on an ambitious project that will turn the historic Dayton’s complex in downtown Minneapolis from an obsolete single-use retail store into a creative multi-tenant office and retail space.

As of Tuesday, New York-based 601w Cos. and its project team have pulled demolition permits valued at $6.97 million for the top-to-bottom makeover of the 1.2 million - square - foot complex at 700 Nicollet Mall, according to the city of Minneapolis.

That’s just a down payment on a renovation touted by the project team as one of the largest adaptive reuses of a historic property in the nation. Total project costs are projected to be north of $250 million, a project spokesperson said in an email.

As Finance & Commerce first reported in March, the undertaking will be called “The Dayton’s Project.” The complex was built as a Dayton’s department store in 1902. It more recently operated as Macy’s before closing in March. For a while it was a Marshall Field’s store.

About 80 construction workers are already onsite taking care of initial demolition and abatement duties. The project is expected to create 400 construction jobs and will employ all-union labor, according to the developers.

The renovation is scheduled to wrap up in 2019, though some office space will be available for “early tenancy” next year, the developers said.

On Monday, New York-based 601w Cos. and its partners released the latest images of what the 12-story building will look like inside and out when the dust settles on the renovation. The team includes Chicago-based Telos Group and Minneapolis-based United Properties.

While walking the tightrope between preserving the 115-year-old building’s historic character and creating modern spaces, the project team hopes to connect future tenants with the “larger city landscape,” including Nicollet Mall, said Steven Bieringer, a project architect.

Bieringer, a senior design manager at Gensler’s Minneapolis office, said in an interview that the building historically connected with the mall by way of window shopping. But it was hard for people on Nicollet Mall to see inside the building — and vice versa.

That’s about to change with help from a design that will bring more natural light into the interior spaces, he said.

“We want them to be able to look into the building now,” Bieringer said.

Architectural images depict transparent and open spaces. Among the signature features is a rooftop garden with gathering spaces, which will top off the structure.

In addition, the project will restore historical features such as the building’s façade, the first-floor JB Hudson space and the distinctive Art Deco ladies room on the fourth floor, the project team said.

Besides Gensler Minneapolis (architect and interior design), the project team includes Gardner Builders (general contractor), Hightower Initiatives (owners’ representative), Meyer Borgman Johnson (structural engineering), McGuire Engineering (mechanical/electrical), Preservation Design Works (preservation/historic design), and Coen+Partners (landscape design).

The renovated building will offer retail space and restaurants on the first and second floors and a “dynamic festival food market” on the lower level, according to the project team. Office space is pegged for floors three through 11.

The rooftop will include seating, fire pits and an adjoining lounge, gym and a library.

In February, 601w Cos. bought the complex from Cincinnati-based Macy’s Inc. for $59 million.

“It’s a rare find in our business to discover such an architecturally significant building in such a prized location,” Brian Whiting, president of The Telos Group, said in a press release. “We fully understand its historical and cultural significance to the city of Minneapolis and the generations of Minnesotans who have experienced great memories there.”

Shortly after the sale, Minneapolis-based United Properties said it would be a part owner and developer in the renovation.

No tenants have been announced yet, but a project spokesperson said Tuesday that the team is “in conversations with many groups” and that “interest is very high.”

United Properties President and Chief Operating Officer Bill Katter said in a press release that the project team is seeing “strong interest” from potential retail and office tenants. Katter expects to reach an agreement soon with a “signature food hall tenant,” he added.

“This move will be a key first step in attracting other high-caliber tenants that will round out this property,” Katter said.

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The old Dayton’s in downtown Minneapolis will soon be updated with open mezzanines, sweeping high ceilings, shops and offices. And some of its quirks, like the bathroom with turquoise sinks on the fourth floor, will still be there.

Balancing modern design with the history of Minnesota’s grandest department store is a key challenge for the developers who this year bought the three-building complex on Nicollet Mall that for a century was the headquarters and flagship store of Dayton’s and was most recently occupied by Macy’s.

The new owners, 601W Cos. of New York, and their local development partners are hoping to revive the Dayton’s name and logo as they aim to make the building once again the center of retailing in downtown Minneapolis by 2019.

The lower levels of what they are now calling "the Dayton's Project" will be filled with stores, restaurants and a food hall with a mix of trendy vendors and dining options. The upper floors will be office space with a health club and large outdoor terrace.

“What we are looking for is to be a destination,” said Brian Whiting, president of the Telos Group, a minority owner in the project.

If the retail portion of the building succeeds, it would be a much-needed boost for Nicollet Mall, which lost stores during a $50 million makeover that began in July 2015 and is nearing completion.

The building joins a growing list of old department stores that are getting new lives. In St. Paul, tenants have already started to move into the former Macy’s building that’s been turned into offices, shops and the practice home of the Minnesota Wild. In St. Louis and Pittsburgh, developers are turning downtown sites last occupied by Macy’s into apartments, offices and shops.

The downtown Minneapolis property is actually three buildings that add up to about 1.3 million square feet, about the size of 10 Target stores.

Though not the height of a skyscraper, the buildings have the space of one.

Work crews are already tearing out walls and fixtures that remained from Macy’s, which owned the building for the past decade and sold it to 601W for $59 million in March.

The new owner and its partners will spend tens of millions more to update the buildings, the oldest of which dates to 1902. Some early renderings of their ideas leaked on the internet this month, but they provided the Star Tribune with updated versions for this article. On Monday, they plan to formally share the plans with the public.

Also last week, they invited interested parties to walk through the buildings. Among them: Gov. Mark Dayton and his sons Eric and Andrew, descendants of the founder of the Dayton’s chain.

“Fun to see the Dayton’s name carry on in the building,” Andrew Dayton said.

Eric Dayton, who has been campaigning for downtown property owners and workers to return to the streets from the skyways, said he was impressed by the developers’ ideas for opening up the building to Nicollet Mall.

“I think it’s really exciting to see the building opening back up to the street,” he said. “The difference that makes of taking a building that was really inwardly oriented and flipping that and opening that up to the street is a huge part of creating the energy that we want on Nicollet Mall and all of downtown on the street level.”

The new owners have put aside about $10 million for demolition and asbestos abatement work that is currently underway, said project coordinator Don Kohlenberger, president of Hightower Initiatives. Mechanical systems will be overhauled before rebuilding begins.

Developers are working with historic preservation officials, in part to qualify for tax credits but also to be good stewards of a place that was a destination for generations of Minnesotans. 

“This building has a great history, lot of good memories around it,” said Steven Bieringer of architecture firm Gensler, one of the project’s designers. “So we are not going to be altering that, [or] those portions of the building.”

Blending old and new

On the top floor, the Oak Grill restaurant sits dusty and empty, with planners still figuring out what portions could be reused in a public part of the complex. The nearby Skyroom is also in a part of the building reserved for office tenants. If a tenant wants to maintain its picturesque ceiling of painted clouds, Kohlenberger said it’s possible but could be difficult while changing some of the mechanicals of the space.

The new owners also want to save the retro-looking bathrooms on the fourth floor, though some work will likely be needed to get them to code.

The public will see the biggest changes in the basement and the first two levels. The new owners plan to cut away a portion of those floors to create an atrium-like space that is connected by grand staircases instead of escalators. While images that were leaked a few weeks ago showed garage-door-like windows on the street level, developers last week said they will be a different design while still connecting the space to the street.

They hope to attract a restaurateur for the JB Hudson jewelry space, which was set off from the rest of the old department store and featured dark wood, intricate ironwork and pocket doors. The food hall in the basement will have room for about 20 vendors, with some rotating through. It will join a growing number of Twin Cities food halls, which also include the one in Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis and another being built in the former Schmidt brewery in St. Paul.

“They really want this space to be active and engaging, and they will see us bringing people to the space not just 8 to 5 but in the evenings and on the weekends,” said Tricia Pitchford, senior vice president for leasing at Mid-America Real Estate-Minnesota, who is heading the retail leasing. “That’s our goal. We don’t want this to be just a daytime opportunity. We want this to really regenerate the activity and the interest on the nights and weekends.”

The group expects to reach an agreement with “a signature food hall tenant,” said Bill Katter, president and chief investment officer of United Properties, the Dayton project’s local development partner. “This move will be a key first step in attracting other high-caliber tenants that will round out the project.”

Seeking a big office tenant

The developers plan to attract business tenants to floors three through 12. With the floorplates aligning for the three buildings, tenants could take as much as 90,000 square feet on some floors, far more than what’s usually available in a typical skyscraper or suburban building. It can take a large company to fill such space, and the owners of the old Dayton’s buildings will be competing with the tendency of such firms to build their own offices.

“We believe that the only reason why those floorplates haven’t been embraced in Minneapolis is that they haven’t existed up until this point,” Whiting said.

To help attract quality tenants, developers have planned for the seventh floor of the Dayton’s project to be tailored for worker amenities.

“Innovative organizations wanting to go into this kind of space really need two things,” said Erin Fitzgerald Wendorf, a principal at Transwestern Minneapolis, who is responsible for leading the office leasing. “One is unique statement space to reflect their brand and culture and two is amenities to help them attract and retain talent.”

There will be a 10,000-square-foot gym with showers, a “library” space where workers can go for quiet work, and an indoor lounge connected to a large outdoor terrace with green space.

For now, the building is in varying states of teardown mess. On the first floor, shards of wood are all that’s left of product kiosks that had to be hacked apart. Small safes that used to sit behind counters still need to be removed. Some valuable items, such as the large crystal chandeliers, have been safely put in crates for possible reuse.

Construction tape hangs from the exposed ceiling on the fifth floor, where most of the fixtures have been ripped out. In the Oak Grill, black-and-white sheets of paper are taped on the wall to help a scanning device map the room.

Even though visitors won’t recognize most of the space when the project is complete, developers say they hope the Dayton’s legacy will live on.

“What we really want the lasting effect for this building to be is the entertainment and cultural center of the downtown area and a guiding light for the rejuvenation of retail and entertainment,” Whiting said.

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New York based-developers revealed ambitious redevelopment plans for the historic Dayton's building in downtown Minneapolis on Monday that are designed to transform the site into a community hub.

601W Cos., along with partners the Telos Group, LLC and United Properties, began sweeping renovations after acquiring the building in March.

The new plans for the Nicollet Mall building include modern designs while maintaining the historic core of the site, said Telos President Brian Whiting.

"There are some very specific gems within the building that have not only been well preserved, but have a lot of memories tied up in them and those we are going to embrace," Whiting said.

Iconic elements such as the fourth-floor women's bathroom and rooftop facade will be preserved, as will the old Dayton's department store name.

The renovated building will house office, retail and dining space.

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MINNEAPOLIS - Developers have unveiled long-awaited plans for the redevelopment of the historic Dayton's Building in downtown Minneapolis.

601w Companies, and its partners at United Properties, The Telos Group, LLC, shared renderings of the planned work on Monday, dubbed The Dayton's Project, located on the corner of Nicollet and 7th Avenue.

The re-envisioned 12-story, 1.2-million square foot building will feature retail space and restaurants on the first and second floors and a food market on the lower level. Floors three through 11 will feature office space with a rooftop park, gym and library.

“This project reflects the historical significance of the building while adding a respectful but progressive design to create dynamic and relevant environments for today’s workforce and the downtown Minneapolis community,” said Steve Bieringer, senior design manager at Gensler Minneapolis, the project architect. 

"We are seeing strong interest in the project from potential tenants for both office and retail, and expect to reach an agreement with a signature food hall tenant that we believe will be a great addition to downtown Minneapolis,” said Bill Katter, president and chief investment officer of United Properties.

The Telos Group says about 80 construction workers are on site beginning demolition and abatement work. Gardner Builder is the project's general contractor. Hightower is the project manager.

The project will create an estimated 400 construction jobs, according to Telos.

“It’s a rare find in our business to discover such a historically significant building in a such a prized location. We fully understand its historical and cultural significance to the City of Minneapolis and the generations of Minnesotans who have experienced great memories here,” said Brian Whiting, President of The Telos Group, LLC.

The building was a shopping destination for decades, most recently with Macy's, up until its closing last March.

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