First-floor lobby of the Osborn370 building in downtown St. Paul Photo from Osborn370 website

Like many organizations in the hybrid era, the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation is downsizing its office footprint.

On Tuesday, the foundation announced plans to move to a new 10,700-square-foot office on the third floor of the Osborn370 building in downtown St. Paul. It’s not far from the nonprofit’s nearly 18,000-square-foot headquarters in the U.S. Bank Center at 101 5th Street East, but it is notably smaller.

Rhonda Cox, the foundation’s VP of people and culture, said it was important for the nonprofit to remain in downtown St. Paul. The organization doesn’t have any in-office mandates, but it does require that employees live in a commutable driving distance to the office, she noted.

“Wherever they can do their best work,” Cox said, “is where we want them to work.”

That also means that, like many modern office spaces, the new office won’t have dedicated spaces for individual employees, though each team will get its own office. CEO Eric Jolly will have an office of his own, too.

The Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation’s current 10-year lease at the U.S. Bank Center is set to expire by the middle of next year. The nonprofit expects to move to the new space in early 2025. The new office also comes with a 10-year lease.

Proximity to the Minnesota Capitol, of course, was another consideration for the foundation. Cox, who also sits on the foundation’s space planning committee, noted that the nonprofit was intrigued by the diverse mix of tenants at Osborne370, as well.

The 20-story Osborne370 building at one time served as Ecolab’s headquarters. These days, it’s been converted to a multi-use office tower. According to its website, all but four of the floors are occupied.

St. Paul’s central business district had an overall vacancy rate of 12.3% in the first quarter of 2024, according to the latest data by commercial real estate firm Colliers. That’s notably lower than the central business district in Minneapolis, which had a vacancy rate around 21% for the same quarter.

Still, aside from the I-494 corridor, both cities’ downtown areas had significantly higher rates than suburban areas. Suburban St. Paul, for instance, logged a vacancy rate of just 6.2%, according to Colliers’ report. At the same time, the Twin Cities suburban office landscape is, of course, in a state of massive flux, too.