Ellerbe Becket’s custom design of the Piper Jaffray Center includes an employee training center and three trading floors without columns to support critical visual communication between brokers. The new building’s design will meet Piper Jaffray Companies’ evolving computer and technology requirements, such as the capability to put the latest technology on every desktop.
The US $150-million office tower is estimated to be a 30-story facility, featuring a 13-story base building that will house Piper Jaffray Companies. The plans include an integrated, 320-car parking garage below ground and an exterior of light-colored stone panels and glass. The Piper Jaffray Center will have retail stores in a three-story atrium at its base, and restaurants on the ground and skyway levels.
Ryan Companies, developer of the Piper Jaffray Center, selected Ellerbe Becket for the architectural design of the building. The two firms have been successful team members before; Ellerbe Becket and Ryan Companies have worked effectively together on Target Corporate Headquarters in Minneapolis, meeting all deadlines despite a tight schedule.
“We have a proven record to deliver fast-track projects,” said David Loehr, AIA, Ellerbe Becket vice president and senior project manager.
Piper Jaffray Companies, Inc. – a century-old, nationwide investment company that has outgrown its present Minneapolis headquarters – is slated to occupy 10 floors of the office tower. The new building will provide Piper Jaffray Companies with significantly upgraded mechanical and electrical systems, as well as the opportunity to expand. Greater efficiency, collaboration, interaction and teamwork are the goals of the new building’s interior design. The large floor plates – 40,000 square feet (3,716 m2) per floor – will provide space for many people to work in close proximity, resulting in increased teamwork and collaboration.
The Piper Jaffray Center will occupy a half-block on downtown Minneapolis’ Nicollet Mall. The office tower will be built on prime urban space between 8th and 9th Streets, on the former site of a multi-level retail center called the Conservatory.
Piper Jaffray Center is the latest Ellerbe Becket project to help shape the Minneapolis skyline. LaSalle Plaza was an Ellerbe Becket project that involved restoring the historic State Theater and designing a 28-story office tower – one block from the Piper Jaffray Center site. In 1997 the firm was awarded architecture and interior design contracts for the 14-story, 604,000-sq.ft. (56,110 m2) Target Corporate Headquarters, also on Nicollet Mall, expected to be completed in September 1998.
Groundbreaking for the Piper Jaffray Center is set for spring of 1998. Piper Jaffray Companies’ employees are expected to take office in the completed building by June 2000. The investment company plans to move all of its 1,400 employees from its present Minneapolis headquarters into the building, plus 300 employees expected to be hired. Ryan Companies will also move its headquarters and about 250 employees into the new facility. The building will house about 4,500 workers when fully leased.
