U.S. Bank weighs office lease renewals

U.S. Bank will be the next big corporation to reshape its office presence in the Twin Cities as several of the company's leases expire in the next 13 months.

Why it matters: What U.S. Bank decides will impact where many of its 12,000 Twin Cities employees work. It will also have ripple effects on the retailers and restaurants that serve those workers.

State of play: Several Twin Cities corporations in the last two years have dramatically downsized their office footprints as they adjust to a world in which hybrid work requires less space.

• U.S. Bank has asked workers to be in the office three days a week.

What we're watching: The company has more than 900,000 square feet of expiring leases. The first big decision could come soon, as the bank's 444,000-square-foot lease for downtown Minneapolis' U.S. Bancorp Center ends next May.

• Building owner Piedmont Office Realty Trust said on a July earnings call that negotiations have accelerated and is optimistic the bank will renew for all of its space.

Meanwhile, the company's lease for 340,000 square feet in Richfield's Meridian Crossing Complex expires at the end of the year, but on the July call Piedmont offered a more conservative estimate, saying that the bank could renew 50% of its space.

What they're saying: "We're always looking at our real estate footprint to ensure that we have the appropriate amount and type of office space that our employee teams want and need," company spokesperson Jeff Shelman said in an email.

The other side (of the river): In downtown St. Paul, the company leases 118,000 square feet in U.S. Bank Center. That lease expires in October 2024, and the bank has not yet announced if it will renew or relocate those workers. However, it did recently renew its lease for a retail branch in the building.

• "They haven't decided anything concerning our building," landlord Jim Crockarell of Madison Equities told Axios.

Between the lines: If U.S. Bank does leave downtown St. Paul, it owns an office building just across the river called West Side Flats that could at least keep the workers in the city.