What's next for the P-B property? Not even the newspaper inside knows

We know the longtime headquarters of the Post-Bulletin was sold earlier this month for $10.5 million. What we don’t know is who bought it.

The P-B’s Jeff Kiger reported Monday that the 100,000-square-foot facility was sold by the paper’s former owner, Small Newspaper Group, to an LLC under the name of “PB Rochester Investments.”

Little, however, is known about the LLC. The only name on file is Daniel E. Berndt, an attorney with the law firm of Dunlap & Seeger. The address registered under the LLC is that of Berndt’s office. Making details even more difficult to track down, the main people involved in the deal were required to sign non-disclosure agreements, according to Kiger.

The paper has been at the building, located at 18 First Avenue Southeast, for 63 years. Later this fall, the P-B’s new owner, Fargo-based Forum Communications, plans to move the paper’s staff to new offices inside the Think Bank complex at 1698 Greenview Drive Southwest.

What happens next to the property is unclear. It appears likely, though, the building will be demolished at some point to make way for a new development. The 1.86-acre property is in a prime spot, wedged between the Mayo Civic Center and the Hilton/Parking Ramp No. 6.

The former P-B owners had originally listed the site for $22 million. Olmsted County property records show a valuation of $5.6 million.

New co-working space

Rochester’s latest co-working hub, Studio On Second, hosted a grand opening last week at its new space, 1741 Second Street Southwest.

Most co-working spaces seek to be a place to do desk work. This 1,030-square-foot co-working space offers desk-work amenities, but is also open to practitioners of things like massage and reiki healing.

When Full Circle Financial moved into the building in October of last year, Szablis Klee, principal of the office of supervisory jurisdiction at Full Circle, decided that she did not want to cede control of a part of their building that could be used for events and auxiliary office space.

She is joined in the venture by partner Alex Stanton, who runs Full Circle’s Edina branch and worked remotely from a co-working space called Offi Centers; and Ethan Klee, their third business partner and marketing pro.

Running of the co-working studio is automatic for them, since they all work right next door. Most of the working space consists of a large room where tables adorned with outlet strips and televisions are available to members. A curtained partition of that room can seat up to twelve for semi-private meetings. Three doors along the building’s west side lead to private offices.

They began accepting memberships today and will do a soft opening for the next couple weeks. Memberships are offered at several tiers, starting at $90 a month for access to the co-working space from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Top tier packages include 24/7 access and access to the private office.

On weekends and weeknights, the entire space will be available for event rentals, too. “Whatever you’re doing, whatever you’re trying to accomplish, we see ourselves as sort of a facilitator for that,” said Klee.

Med City makes 2019 'Money’ list

Rochester earned a respectable spot on Money’s latest ‘Best Places’ list.

The Med City finished No. 15 in the 2019 rankings, the results of which were made public on Monday. The publication — which now operates exclusively online — cited the city’s health and wellness metrics, as well as the strength of its economy, as reasons for placing Rochester on the list.

It also noted that Rochester is home to more primary care physicians per 100,000 people (227) than any other place on the list.

[You can view Rochester’s full profile here.]

Money compared 1,796 places to develop the rankings. To be considered, places had to have a population between 50,000 and 300,000 (places with over 300,000 people were broken down into neighborhoods). They also had to meet certain levels of criteria for safety, household income, and diversity.

Only two other Minnesota places made the list — the Minneapolis neighborhood of Lynnhurst came in at No. 46; while Blaine, a suburban area in the northern part of the Twin Cities metro, landed at No. 90.

Clarksville, Tennessee took home top honors for 2019.

Sean Baker is a Rochester journalist and the founder of Med City Beat.

[Bryan Lund contributed to this report.]