Cray Inc., a supercomputer company, is poised to relocate its downtown St. Paul offices to a new building at the Mall of America, according to a source familiar with the deal.
Officials with Seattle-based Cray could not be reached for comment Monday but a spokesman previously declined to discuss what he termed “speculation.” A spokesman for the Mall of America said she could not “confirm or deny” the report.
Cray moved into what was formerly called the Galtier Plaza with some 200 employees in 2009.
With more than 350 employees now working out of the downtown office, the company has outgrown the space, said Matt Kramer, president of the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce.
“It’s disappointing but it’s also not unexpected,” Kramer said of the company’s apparent decision. “You outgrow your space and you need to look for new opportunities. … The only concern I have is this is a company that intuitively seems to be hiring people that are a part of this new generation … and for whatever reason they have chosen the suburbs.”
He added that St. Paul did “what it could to try and keep them.”
“I know there were a number of real estate opportunities presented to them … but at the end of the day it’s a company’s decision what space looks best for them,” Kramer said.
Neither the St. Paul mayor’s office nor the city’s department of planning and economic development immediately responded to requests for comment Monday.
However, Julie Bauch, chair of the the Greater St. Paul Association of Building Owners, called losing Cray “a big blow for St. Paul.”
Bauch, general manager of the office and special events building 180 East Fifth, said she tried to accommodate Cray in her building back in 2009 and again recently when she heard they were crunched for space.
Bauch said she couldn’t meet the company’s needs after leasing space to GreenTree Financial. Her building does provide overflow space to Cray.
Cray reportedly was looking for about 100,000 square feet, Bauch said, a challenge in downtown St. Paul’s shrinking universe of commercial office space.
“It’s sad that we don’t have room or that we haven’t found a location for them to stay in St. Paul,” Bauch said. “I think anytime we lose someone, and a company with 400 jobs and in growth mode … that’s a big blow for St. Paul. … We are in a very positive growth mode in our residential and hotel markets. … We need to focus on (our office environment and retail) to balance out what is happening in downtown St. Paul.”
Cray would be the first tenant in the office building at the Mall of America built as a part of the giant Bloomington shopping center’s expansion.
As recently as April 2015, Cray CEO Peter Ungaro was visiting St. Paul to tout the strengths of the Twin Cities market and announce plans to add 75 workers to its Mears Park offices, raising the total workforce there to 400 employees.
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman has frequently referred to Cray as an example of the type of employer he’d like to see more of downtown, and one that benefits from major public investments such as the new CHS Field ballpark and the Green Line light rail.
In 2009, the city of St. Paul’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority approved a $400,000 taxpayer subsidy as an incentive for the company to relocate from Mendota Heights to Lowertown.
Cray moved into the former Galtier Plaza, rebranded it Cray Plaza and invested $4.5 million into remodeling nearly 51,000 square feet of office space. The office tower went from being one-third empty to nearly fully occupied.
Cray, which traces its origins to the Twin Cities and Chippewa Falls, Wis., brought some 200 jobs to downtown St. Paul in the first year alone, many of which paid $100,000 or more. The move, celebrated by city leaders, represented a victory for the mayor’s office and St. Paul boosters eager to fill empty spaces in Lowertown and market the neighborhood to future employers.
St. Paul City Council member Rebecca Noecker, who represents the downtown area, said she could not confirm or deny the reports about Cray.
“I can say they have been an incredible asset to this community and a wonderful employer, and I would certainly hate to see us lose such an incredible business in the community,” Noecker said.