HealthPartners gives up St. Paul corporate office

Details: The company confirmed to Axios that it did not renew its lease in the Great Northern Building, where it had 100,000 square feet of office space.

• Once big enough to accommodate more than 500 workers, the space was sitting mostly largely after the pandemic. A spokesperson told Axios only a dozen employees were working there as of late 2022.

What they're saying: "Like other businesses, we're no longer in need of the same physical footprint because of the shift toward working from home and the adoption of technology solutions to make that easier," spokesperson David Martinson wrote in an email.

Zoom in: Downtown St. Paul's office vacancy has reached 28.6%, up from 23.5% in early 2021, according to a recent report by commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield.

• The vacancy rate for the entire metro area sits at 25.4%, up from 21.5% in early 2021, per the same report.

Between the lines: Losing a private company is a blow for St. Paul. Private companies have been more likely to require some level of in-person work, while state, county, city, and Metropolitan Council workers — who comprise a large share of employees downtown — are largely staying home, the Pioneer Press reported.

Zoom out: The post-pandemic rise in remote work is still sending waves through the Twin Cities commercial real estate market.

• Best Buy has put 600,000 square feet at its Richfield campus up for sublease, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reported Tuesday.