NKF to Market 3.3 MSF Twin Cities Development

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

MV Eagan Ventures, founded by Minnesota Vikings owners Zygi, Mark and Leonard Wilf, will develop Viking Lakes, a planned 200-acre community in Eagan, Minn.

Viking Lakes in Eagan, Minn.

Newmark Knight Frank will lead the global marketing launch of the 3.25 million-square-foot master-planned real estate development, which will consist of a corporate office, retail, hospitality, multifamily residential, a medical office building and a sports medicine center.

The development will also include a series of open and public spaces, including trails, water/wetland preserves and other amenities to provide connectivity, all anchored by the Minnesota Vikings’ new 40-acre team headquarters and practice facility, the Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center.

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“This takes the live/work/play typical multi-use development to the next level just because of the product type that’s going to be brought in, but also who your next-door neighbor is, being the Minnesota Vikings,” John McCarthy, NKF’s senior managing director and team lead for the Viking Lakes leasing and marketing team, told Commercial Property Executive. “There are not many companies that have practice fields and auditoriums and stadiums that tenants can use for their entertaining and gatherings.”

In fact, the uniqueness of this development is something beyond anything McCarthy has ever seen.

The Viking Lakes community will be located along Interstate 494, strategically situated between Minneapolis and St. Paul and close by the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and Mall of America.

“This was the former Northwest Airlines corporate campus that was sold to Delta, but they never utilized the whole campus,” McCarthy said. “The location has been there a long time but it sat there because there’s not too many people who need 200 acres. They have completely changed the view and appeal of the property because it’s now visible from the freeway, which will allow a lot of branding and exposure.”

The development plan consists of multiple phases with seven districts identified in the master plan. The Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center and TCO Stadium are currently under construction and scheduled to be completed in March 2018. 

NKF’s team also includes associate director Jack Reipke, and the firm’s East Coast executive vice president, William Cohen. The launch will target the top Fortune 500 companies in the city, and creative retail tenants.

“This is going to be a global launch and Viking Lakes will be more than just a place people work and live, it will be a destination,” McCarthy said. “Newmark has a large global reach and we are assembling our team members to make sure this is not only a local, regional or national but all of our offices are partaking in this and talking about it in sales meetings.”