News Release
United Properties Signs Lease to Bring Panera Bread to Midwest Plaza
Deal Represents Panera’s First Downtown Minneapolis Location – Opening Targeted for February 2005
MINNEAPOLIS (Oct. 6, 2004) — United Properties has signed a ten-year lease with Panera Bread to open its first downtown Minneapolis location in the Midwest Plaza building located at 801 Nicollet Mall. Expected to open in February of 2005, Panera will occupy approximately 4,500 square feet of space on three levels. It will be one of Panera’s largest restaurants in the Twin Cities and the first multiple-level location in Minnesota.
Panera will be located in the former Men’s Wearhouse space next to Barnes & Noble. It will feature an outdoor dining patio near the corner of 8th and Nicollet, and will offer both street- and skyway-level access to the IDS tower.
“Panera will be a great addition to Midwest Plaza and to the downtown restaurant scene,” said Stefanie Meyer, senior associate, United Properties Retail Brokerage. “It is an appealing option for the lunch crowds from neighboring office towers, and is a nice complement to existing Midwest Plaza service retailers like convenience stores and shoe repair.”
Panera, which currently has 20 Twin Cities locations, will continue expansion throughout the metro region, but the Midwest Plaza restaurant is expected to be the only Panera location in downtown Minneapolis.
“We are extremely excited to bring Panera Bread to downtown Minneapolis. The Nicollet Mall is a vibrant trade area that will be a good fit for our bakery café,” said Jim Rand, operating partner, SLB of Minnesota, LLC, a franchisee of Panera Bread. “We look forward to catering to the densely populated office crowd using our new Via Panera Catering program and to providing a place for all of our guests to relax and enjoy our high-quality products.”
About United Properties
United Properties is a full-service commercial real estate company with more than 400 employees and 26.5 million square feet of office, industrial, retail and multi-family properties under management. The company specializes in diverse real estate services, including brokerage, property management, corporate real estate services, facility services, construction management, development services and investment services.
Based in the Twin Cities, United Properties serves other markets through its affiliations with ONCOR International, an organization of commercial real estate companies serving more than 200 markets throughout the world, and ChainLinks Professional Resource Network, the largest retail-only full-service real estate provider in North America. United Properties is located on the Web at www.uproperties.com.
About Panera Bread
Panera Bread Company owns and franchises bakery-cafes under the Panera Bread and Saint Louis Bread Co. names. The Company is a leader in the emerging specialty bread/cafe category due to its unique bread combined with a quick, casual dining experience. Additional information is available on the Company’s website, www.panerabread.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