The Soo Line Building is a 19-story residential highrise in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

which was the tallest commercial building in the city from the time it was completed in 1915 until the 26-story Foshay Tower was built in 1929.

History

The Soo Line Building was built for the First National Bank of Minneapolis, a predecessor of today's U.S. Bancorp (U.S. Bank). The building was designed by the Beaux-Arts master Robert W. Gibson. The building later served for many years as headquarters of the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad, which added an iconic clock to the corner of the building's street level. For commercial purposes, it was sometimes referred to by its address, 501 Marquette. The

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

became a major shareholder for the Soo Line in 1890. The MStP&SSM merged with numerous CP subsidiaries in 1961 to form the "new" Soo Line Railroad. During the 1960s, a remodeling operation transformed the building into small offices. The marble floors were covered with carpet. In 1985, the Soo purchased trackage from the bankrupt Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad ("Milwaukee Road") and usurped it a year later. CP purchased the company outright in 1990; the

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

-based railway's U.S. headquarters then took over the space for its 400 employees.Janet Moore
Soo Line's conversion to apartments is close to reality
, ''Star Tribune'', April 12, 2012, accessed August 6, 2013. The building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on May 12, 2008. In 2011, the building was purchased by

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

-based developer Village Green Properties for $11.3 million; after the commercial tenants were relocated, Village Green began conversion of the property in October 2012 into a 254-unit luxury apartment building with a street-level restaurant, scheduled for completion in Fall 2013.Jim Butcha and Janet Moore
Downtown Minneapolis offices find new life as apartments
''Star Tribune'', March 31, 2013, accessed August 6, 2013.Sam Black

''Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal'', July 5, 2013, accessed August 6, 2013.Rick Nelson

''Star Tribune'', August 6, 2013, accessed August 6, 2013. In 2012, the CP moved out of the building. The first residents of the remodeled building moved in by the end of 2013.

Location

The building is located across Marquette Avenue from the 510 Marquette Building, the original Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. A skyway connects the building to its neighbor across 5th Street South. Residents' amenities include a rooftop, an indoor/outdoor pool, and a hot tub on the 20th floor. In front of that building is the Nicollet Mall station of the

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

and

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

lines. Nearby is Canadian Pacific Plaza, renamed after the Canadian Pacific Railroad moved in after vacating the Soo Line Building.

Gallery

File:Soo Line Building 1.jpg, Front-corner side, skyway visible. File:Soo Line Building clock.jpg, Building's clock. File:Soo Line Building Minneapolis.jpg, Front-corner side.

References

External links

*
Soo Line Building
at the Hennepin County Library.
Soo Line Building
at the Minnesota Historical Society. * * {{Registered Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Minneapolis Office buildings completed in 1915 Residential skyscrapers in Minneapolis Bank buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Soo Line Railroad