Hotel group paid $12.5 million for former Post Bulletin parcel in downtown Rochester

Jeff Kiger, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
·1 min read

Apr. 25—ROCHESTER — A hotel group recently paid $12.5 million for open land where

the Post Bulletin complex

previously stood in downtown Rochester.

PB Rochester Investments LLC,

a local firm led by developer Dan Penz, sold the 1.82-acre parcel at 18 First Avenue SE to HP PB LLC on April 17, 2023. HP PB made a $250,000 down payment at the sale closing, according to state records.

HP PB is linked to

Empire Hotels

, which is based out of Minneapolis and Buffalo, NY. Empire is led by

Harshal Patel,

Minesh Patel, and Jayesh Patel.

Of the 21 hotels in Empire's portfolio, it operates three in Rochester

Fairfield Inn & Suites,

Hampton Inn South and

Best Western

. It also owns and manages the Empire Event Center in southwest Rochester.

No one from Empire was available to discuss the transaction. However, the land is directly across Civic Center Drive from the Mayo Civic Center, so it is possible that Empire's plans for the land may include the development of a hotel.

Rochester Realtor

Merl Groteboer

represented both the buyer and seller in the transaction.

PB Rochester Investments acquired the property, which included 100,000-square-foot headquarters of the Post Bulletin newspaper, for $10.5 million in September 2019. The newspaper moved its offices to the second floor of the Think Bank building at 1698 Greenview Drive SW.

The former PB complex was demolished

in 2020.