News Release

United Properties Corporate Real Estate Services Represents Ecolab in Purchase of 90-Acre Corporate Campus

MINNEAPOLIS (June 1, 2004) — United Properties Corporate Real Estate Services recently represented Ecolab in the purchase of The Waters, a 90-acre, 481,000-square-foot corporate campus located at Dodd Road and Highway 55 in Eagan, according to Nancy Miller, senior consultant, United Properties Corporate Real Estate Services. The $17.5 million sale, which closed in April, is the Twin Cities’ largest corporate campus real estate transaction since 2001.

Ecolab is currently renovating the campus and plans to consolidate its research and development center and about 400 employees at new location in early 2005. The company will sell two buildings in the consolidation, including its existing 141,000-square-foot research center at 820 Sibley Memorial Highway in Mendota Heights, and a 28,500-square-foot data center at 88 Empire Drive in St. Paul. The company’s headquarters, Ecolab Center, will remain in the three buildings it occupies on Wabasha Street in downtown St. Paul.

“United Properties Corporate Real Estate Services is very pleased to have represented Ecolab in this key real estate decision,” United Properties’ Miller said. “We’re confident the company has made an excellent investment, one that will contribute greatly to its long-term growth and expansion.”

The Waters Campus was originally built by Cray Research in 1989 for approximately $100 million. The campus became an asset of SGI when it purchased Cray Research in 1996. SGI sold the campus to technology company Wam!Net in 1999 for $38 million, and the company subsequently sold the campus to J.P. Morgan and signed a 20-year lease. In the summer of 2003, Wam!Net sold its business to Virginia-based Savvis Communications and vacated the campus late last year.

About Ecolab
With 2003 sales of $3.8 billion, Ecolab is the leading global developer and marketer of premium cleaning, sanitizing, pest elimination, maintenance and repair products and services for the hospitality, foodservice, institutional and industrial markets. Ecolab shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ECL.

About United Properties
Corporate Real Estate Services United Properties Corporate Real Estate Services provides strategic planning and advisory services, tenant representation and portfolio management, facilities and project management and portfolio reporting to corporate, healthcare and nonprofit clients nationwide.

It is a division of United Properties, a full-service commercial real estate company with 400 employees providing real estate services around the country. In addition to corporate real estate services, the company specializes in brokerage, property management, facility services, construction management, development services and investment services. Based in the Twin Cities, United Properties is located on the Web at www.uproperties.com.

 
Media Contacts
Martha Nevanen
Vice President, Marketing Communications
952-893-7539
mnevanen@uproperties.com

Jessie Folkens
Sr. Communications Consultant
952-837-8516
jfolkens@uproperties.com