Lifetouch property purchased for $23.4 million

The Shutterfly/Lifetouch campus in Eden Prairie has been purchased by Tempus Realty Partners for $23.4 million, it was announced Feb. 23.

Tempus Realty Partners, based in Little Rock, Ark., acquires and develops commercial real estate in the Midwest, South, and Southeast regions of the United States.

Tempus and Shutterfly were recently granted approval by the Eden Prairie City Council to demolish the western-most portion of their building along Viking Drive, north of Interstate Hwy. 494, in a move that company representatives said would help extend Shutterfly’s presence in Eden Prairie for the long term.

In addition to being headquarters for the Lifetouch business, the Eden Prairie campus is also home to marketing and merchandising functions for both Shutterfly and Lifetouch.

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The campus was built in 1997 by Lifetouch, which was purchased by Shutterfly in 2018. Lifetouch has been a leader in school photography, and much of the building proposed to be demolished contains empty studio space that is no longer used, the company told city officials in December.

In the hearing before the city’s planning commission last year, architect Terry Helland, speaking on behalf of Shutterfly, said the building changes solidify Shutterfly’s presence in Eden Prairie for at least the next 12 years, preserving 500 to 700 local jobs.

The purchase marks the first asset in Minnesota for Tempus, which has holdings in Michigan, Texas, Ohio, Indiana, Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas.

“We’re very excited to work with Shutterfly to deliver this solution for their next generation office needs,” Tempus CEO Dan Andrews said in a news release announcing the purchase. “The creativity of the Tempus and Shutterfly teams was key to making this transaction happen.”