Capella Tower

카펠라 타워

Capella Tower, also called 225 South Sixth, is an office skyscraper in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It opened in 1992 as First Bank Place and has 56 floors. It is joined to the Minneapolis Skyway System, the network of walkways that lets people cross downtown without going outside, and it has about 1.4 million square feet of office space.

See it on the 3D globe →

At a glance

Country: United States
Location: Minneapolis, USA
Built: 1992
Height: 236 m
Type: Skyscraper

Quick answers

Where is Capella Tower?

Capella Tower is in Minneapolis, USA, United States.

When was Capella Tower built?

Capella Tower was built in 1992.

How tall is Capella Tower?

Capella Tower is about 236 m tall.

A Minneapolis tower crowned by an open circular "halo" that glows at night.

Its most unusual feature is the lit semicircle on the roof, called the halo, which holds an antenna farm and communications network and gives the tower its nickname, the Halo Building. Capella Tower is also the star of a friendly argument about which building is tallest in Minneapolis, because it is almost exactly as tall as its neighbour, the IDS Center.

One foot taller or one foot shorter?

The story goes that the tower was made one foot shorter than the IDS Center out of respect. But in 2005 it was revealed that the builders had quietly added 14 inches (36 cm) to Capella's height, which made it taller than IDS's main roof. Then, in February 2005, the IDS counted a 16-foot window washing garage on its roof, which made it 14 feet taller. Even the building's official height may include the halo, though this is unclear. The IDS is taller in two other ways: its spires reach 910 feet, and by number of stories it has 57 against Capella's 56, tied with the Wells Fargo Center.

Design

Pei, Cobb, Freed & Partners designed the office building on an L-shaped site, with the tower linked to the 20-story Star Tribune Building by an atrium. The building mixes six-story cubes with various round towers, echoing the different styles of buildings downtown. The glowing halo at the top is both decoration and a practical home for antennas.

Four names in thirty years

The building has changed names as its tenants changed. It started as First Bank Place for First Bank System. In 1997, after First Bank System acquired US Bancorp, it became US Bancorp Place. When US Bancorp moved out in 2000, it was simply 225 South 6th Street. In March 2008 Capella Education Co., owner of the online Capella University, signed a lease that grew its space from 203,000 to about 400,000 square feet, and the building took the name Capella Tower in March 2009. Other tenants include Morgan Stanley, Baker Tilly and Houlihan Lokey.

Fun facts

Some say Capella was built exactly one foot shorter than the IDS Center out of respect.
In 2005 it was revealed that builders had secretly added about 36 cm to its height.
The tower has had four different names.
The glowing halo on the roof hides an antenna farm.