Shea, a marketing and design firm, is relocating from its longtime home in Butler Square just blocks away to the old Shinders space in downtown Minneapolis, which has been empty since 2007.
Recently the firm signed a lease for the two-story building, which faces Hennepin Avenue, while the design is in early planning stages, according to Shea spokesperson Andy McDermott.
Shea's offices will go on the second floor, with a ground-level reception area, taking up 8,000 square feet of the building's 22,000 square feet total. A restaurant will share part of the first-floor space, for which the details are still being worked out, he says.
Although most of the 1947 building will get a facelift, original stone on its exterior and interior terrazzo floors will be preserved, according to company information.
Over the past decade, the company has worked with many businesses from one end of Hennepin Avenue to the other. "We encouraged clients to take a chance on [the street] even when developers weren't interested," he says.
Currently, Shea is working on the new Lunds store and a restaurant called Butcher & Boar at 12th and Hennepin.
"For whatever reasons, there's been a glut of space there for a while," he says. "But we've always seen it as a great central location with good demographics, a great office population, and a scene at night."
It's why the company nabbed the highly visible corner space on the avenue. "We're seeing a resurgence on Hennepin," he says, adding, "We're happy to be a part of it."
Construction will start in January, and Shea will be in the new space by July 2012, according to company information.
Source: Andy McDermott, spokesperson, Shea
Writer: Anna Pratt