BREAKING: Target Pays $110 MILLION To Break Lease, Leave Minneapolis
It turns out Minneapolis is such a disaster that Target would rather pay $110 million to break its lease and leave town rather than stick around until 2031.
Wow!
While that is true, there is also some nuance which I want to show you….
Because that’s how we roll around here, we don’t give fake news just to make a good headline, we give you the real scoop.
And the real scoop is this: many posts online today have made it sound like Target was closing it’s stores and leaving Minneapolis because they no longer wanted to operate stores in Downtown Minneapolis:
After months of protests and repeated store disruptions, Target paid $110 million just to terminate its lease and leave downtown Minneapolis. When a company would rather lose nine figures than stay, that tells you everything you need to know.
— Clown World ™ 🤡 (@ClownWorld) February 27, 2026
While it is true that Minneapolis has become a hellhole on Earth, that’s not quite an accurate story.
The lease termination is true, and it is for $110 million according to the Minnesota Star Tribune, but it is related to their corporate office space, not the stores:
Target pays $110M to end lease in downtown Minneapolis’ City Center, which is now for sale https://t.co/fCNz8N9lNB
— The Minnesota Star Tribune (@StarTribune) February 26, 2026
Here are more details from the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
After moving out of nearly a million square feet of office space in downtown Minneapolis’ City Center building five years ago, Target paid almost $110 million last month to officially break its lease that ran through 2031.
Now the owner of the 51-story tower at 33 S. 6th St. — an entity tied to South Korean conglomerate Samsung — is preparing to list the property for sale, according to a Feb. 2 loan servicer report.
Target’s decision to downsize in 2021 was one of the first signs of the pandemic’s seismic impact on office work.
At the time, Target — which was one of City Center’s original tenants when it opened in 1983 — still had more than 10 years left on its lease. The company had last signed a renewal in 2015.
The Minneapolis-based retailer has continued to pay rent for the offices as they sat dark, making City Center a symbol of the challenges and uncertainties facing a downtown that relied heavily on its white-collar commuter crowds.
Target did try to sublet the space but failed to attract tenants beyond law firm Fox Rothschild, which moved into about 40,000 square feet of offices in 2022.
A spokesman for Target declined to comment on the lease-ending agreement but emphasized the company’s commitment to downtown Minneapolis. The retailer had been downtown’s biggest employer for years, but slid below Hennepin Healthcare in 2024.
Last summer, Target called its largest corporate unit back to the office three days a week to consolidated office space in other downtown properties near its Nicollet Mall headquarters.
Meanwhile, it does look like other businesses are either pulling out or failing in Minneapolis.
Gee, I can’t imagine why….
Like this:
End of an era: Final D’Amico restaurants in Minnesota closing https://t.co/lWSnL0B2BH
— The Minnesota Star Tribune (@StarTribune) February 26, 2026
And this:
Downtown Minneapolis’ historic Lumber Exchange building sells for $1 https://t.co/iquXLN7gfC
— The Minnesota Star Tribune (@StarTribune) February 27, 2026
I wouldn’t want to be there either!
