What was once a $120 million creative-office vision is now assessed at just $21 million, struggling through years of high vacancy, stalled momentum, and the lasting aftereffects of 2020.

Here’s what’s happening — and why this moment could become a turning point for Uptown.

Let’s start with the part that stops people in their tracks:

According to court filings, the owners defaulted on their loan and the lender (FNBO) is moving forward with foreclosure.

Two sheriff’s auctions are scheduled:

Unless a last-minute deal or redemption happens, the MoZaic ownership is changing hands.

The MoZaic complex includes:

When MoZaic West opened in 2012 (followed by MoZaic East in 2018), the vision was clear: Bring a daytime business and creative workforce to Uptown.

Early on, that bet looked smart. The first tower filled quickly. The second secured WeWork as its anchor tenant. The art park added foot traffic and a community feel.

It was modern, colorful, ambitious — a catalyst project meant to lift the entire district.

No single moment can explain MoZaic’s decline. It was a perfect storm:

After 2020, companies shrank office footprints dramatically. Creative office — MoZaic’s niche — was hit especially hard.

When WeWork pulled out in 2022, MoZaic East lost its anchor tenant and most of its momentum.

The neighborhood faced a combination of safety concerns, business closures, and identity shifts after the civil unrest and pandemic.

By 2024:

Without rent revenue, the financial structure simply didn’t hold.

This one hits a little differently for me.

I started working in the MoZaic building in 2017 when I first got into real estate, and I stepped into leadership inside those same walls in 2019. I’ve walked into that building hundreds of times — at its most vibrant, and in some of the hardest years our city has ever lived through.

I’ve seen Uptown full of energy, restaurants buzzing, sidewalks packed, and I’ve seen it quiet, uncertain, and in transition.

So watching MoZaic land here… it’s tough. And I imagine it’s tough for Ackerberg, the original developer, too. They envisioned something big for Uptown, and for a while, it worked.

Uptown has a history of going through cycles of expansion and contraction. This isn’t the end of Uptown.

Whoever steps in next will have:

How long that rebuilding takes? Hard to say.
But if you’ve lived in Minneapolis long enough, you know Uptown moves in cycles — rise, fall, reinvent, repeat.

This moment opens the door for the next reinvention.

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Twin Cities Business Journal
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