Interstate Development - Media

Brown & Bigelow’s St. Paul headquarters sells for $16 million

Published August 23rd, 2021 By: Dylan Thomas  – Reporter, Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal

A multi-tenant St. Paul industrial building sold July 1 for more than $16 million, according to a state record made public late last week.

The buyer of 345 Plato Boulevard E. was Plato Industrial LLC, an entity associated with Eden Prairie-based Interstate Development. A commercial real estate company spun off of Interstate Partners, Interstate Development has a portfolio of about 50 properties totaling roughly 3 million square feet.

The seller was Summit Limited Partnership of Edina, a company managed by Brown & Bigelow, Inc. CEO Bill Smith, Jr. A 120-year-old promotional products company, Brown & Bigelow is headquartered in the building.

The roughly 403,000-square-foot building was constructed in 1979, according to Ramsey County property records. It’s located across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Paul.

The Ramsey County Assessor’s Office most recently estimated the property’s value at just under $10.7 million.

Eric Simmer, a partner with Interstate Development, said the company bought the property “with a lot of pending vacancy,” then recruited the United State Postal Service to become the building’s primary user as of Aug. 1. It is now fully leased, Simmer said.

The other tenants include industrial supply company W.W. Grainger, Inc., which operates a branch from the location, and Amazon, which uses a portion of the property for vehicle parking, Simmer said.

He said the building was not on the market when a broker connected Interstate Development with Smith, the Brown & Bigelow CEO and former property owner. The building’s size, proximity to downtown St. Paul and easy highway access all appealed to Interstate Development, Simmer said.


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