The Opus Group is buying 5.72 acres of former 3M Co. property from the St. Paul Port Authority to build a speculative industrial warehouse and office development.

Minnetonka-based Opus will construct an 85,000-square-foot square foot warehouse and office building on the vacant land, according to the Port Authority. The developer will pay $996,000, or nearly $174,126 per acre, pending approval of the deal by the authority’s board of commissioners on Aug. 23.

The Opus space comes to the market during a period of declining vacancy in the northeast metro’s industrial submarket, which includes St. Paul. The industrial vacancy rate dipped to 6.2 percent by the end of June vs. 8.2 percent for the entire Twin Cities market, according to the mid-year Cushman & Wakefield/NorthMarq Compass report. During that period, 708,462 square feet of space was absorbed in the northeast submarket.

The site is at the northeast quadrant of Phalen Boulevard and Wells Street, east of downtown St. Paul. Ramsey County values the land at $1.5 million.

The land is part of the former 3M headquarters campus the Port Authority acquired in 2008 and 2009. Since then, the authority has cleaned up the 61-acre site and installed infrastructure. The property is marketed as the Beacon Bluff Business Center. The authority has sold off about 36 acres since taking ownership, according to its marketing materials.

3M called the Beacon Bluff land home between 1910 and 1962. The company subsequently moved its headquarters to Maplewood.

Opus is not offering specifics about the construction project beyond what the Port Authority has disclosed. Phil Cattanach, Opus’ director of real estate development, said the construction project will be built on “challenged real estate.”

“We are continuing to evaluate design solutions and we look forward to working alongside the

St. Paul Port Authority in the months ahead to bring to life a property that will meet the market demand for industrial space,” he said in a statement.

As part of the purchase agreement, Opus has committed to cleaning up the site at the time of construction. The cost of the work is expected to be about $200,000.

The authority’s credit committee approved the land sale at its Aug. 16 meeting. If approved by the authority’s board next week, the deal will close six months later.

Construction on the Opus project is scheduled to start 60 days after the transaction closes. The building is expected to be ready for occupancy by the end of 2017. Under the terms of the sales agreement, Opus will pay prevailing wages for construction labor.

The Port Authority will use proceeds from the sale to repay a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cleanup loan on the property and to finance future projects.

The Port Authority has an employment goal for the site of 85 jobs, based on the square footage Opus is planning to build.

In March, the Port Authority approved the $7 million sale of a 58,000-square foot building on 4 acres at 1065 Phalen Blvd., just west of the Opus site. A Winnipeg-based real estate investment trust, Neptune Industrial USA, purchased the property. The tenants are Viking Electric and Moventas, a Finnish wind turbine company.

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