Scoop: Uptown's highest-profile buildings are largely empty — and for sale
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MoZaic East (left) and MoZaic West (right) are for sale. Photo: Nick Halter/Axios
Uptown's biggest and newest buildings went up for sale this month, and documents obtained by Axios peel back the curtain on the neighborhood's dire economics.
Why it matters: Once viewed as the buildings that would take Uptown to the next level, they're now mostly empty and valued significantly below what it cost to build them.
Zoom in: The portfolio for sale includes MoZaic East and West near the corner of Hennepin and Lagoon Avenues, as well as the Lagoon Cinema.
Flashback: Developer and Uptown champion Stuart Ackerberg had high hopes for the two office towers when he built them in 2012 and 2018, promising they would finally bring sought-after daytime workers to a neighborhood known for its nightlife.
- Initially, it looked like his bet would pay off: the first building was mostly full when he landed WeWork as an anchor for the second building in 2018.
Yes, but: No neighborhood in the city has changed more dramatically than Uptown in the past four years.
It faced looting and burning immediately after Floyd's murder in 2020.
- It was occupied by protesters a year later after law enforcement killed Winston Smith in a nearby parking ramp. One protester was killed by a motorist.
- Two shootings — one fatal — occurred outside of the buildings last year, causing some window damage.
- Crime got so bad at the attached Uptown Transit Station that leaders at Metro Transit shut it down.
Plus: Amid all of this and the pressure of the pandemic, Uptown suffered countless retail and restaurant closings.
Stunning stat: According to the offering documents, MoZaic East, the sleek 2018 building, is 84% vacant after the departure of WeWork in 2022.
- MoZaic West, which has a smaller amount of office space above a parking ramp and retail space, is 23% vacant.
Follow the money: MoZaic East cost $65 million to build, according to a past Finance & Commerce story. The city earlier this year valued the building at just over $21 million.
- The assessed value of MoZaic West is not as easy to calculate, because it's broken up into several ownership tracts.
Inside the room: Two industry sources with knowledge of the development told Axios that Ackerberg lost control of the buildings to his financial partner, Olympus Ventures, which is the group putting the portfolio up for sale.
- Neither Ackerberg nor Olympus, a real estate company owned by Best Buy founder Richard Schulze, responded to requests for comment.
What we're watching: If a buyer is willing to place a new bet on an Uptown rebound.