After more than 50 years in downtown St. Paul, Wold Architects is jumping ship from the First National Bank building and relocating its national headquarters to downtown Minneapolis, taking some 250 Minnesota-based employees with it.

The architecture and engineering firm made the announcement Wednesday, indicating in a written statement that its new home within the 50 South Sixth building along Nicollet Avenue will offer “enhanced amenities, increased space for growth and an environment that better aligns with the firm’s future vision.”

“Centrally situated in the heart of Minneapolis, the new office will offer greater connectivity to the architectural community, including peer firms and university students, and will be more accessible for the firm’s Minnesota-based team members,” it goes on to say.

Wold called the move an opportunity to expand “in a connected, modern workspace.” The firm said the move would be complete by next summer, though an additional 120 team members will continue to operate from offices in Chicago, Denver, and Nashville, Tenn.

Wold’s headquarters has been located in St. Paul since 1968, when founder Clark Wold launched the company. It specializes in full-service planning for new construction, with specialties in education, government, healthcare and senior living.

The century-old, 32-story First National Bank building at 332 Minnesota St. was put on the market in April, alongside nine other properties owned by Madison Equities, whose principal — Jim Crockarell — died in January. A sales memorandum at the time said the building’s nearly 663,000 square feet of office space was about 45% occupied, with tenants including Wold, Finance and Commerce, the Social Security Administration, the Ramsey County Bar Association and a variety of law and financial firms.

Wold isn’t the only major downtown employer to announce its exit. Design and engineering firm TKDA said this year it will leave St. Paul — where it was founded in 1910 — and relocate to an existing office building on Old Shakopee Road in Bloomington in early 2025, taking some 300 downtown employees with it. TKDA has been based at Town Square’s UBS Plaza on Cedar Street.

U.S. Bank also confirmed a similar exit from the U.S. Bank Building on Minnesota Street in order to relocate to St. Paul’s West Side, though it will keep a bank branch downtown. Several state offices are also ending their leases and on the move after allowing office workers to work remotely.

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