The Loews Minneapolis Hotel across from Target Center is getting a new owner and a new name.

Eden Prairie-based firm Hempel Real Estate is teaming up with Marcus Hotels & Resorts and Robinson Park Investments to buy the 251-room hotel in downtown Minneapolis, according to a Wednesday announcement.

The hotel will be rebranded “under another major global hotel system” and will be managed by Marcus Hotels after the deal closes.

Terms of the deal, expected to close at the beginning of March, weren’t disclosed. That includes the price that the newly formed joint venture between the three investors (Marcus Hotels, Hempel and Robinson Park) agreed to pay for the Lowes hotel.

The hotel last sold for $65 million in 2014, when it was named the Graves 601 Hotel. Built in 2003, the hotel is connected to Mayo Clinic Square, previously known as Block E, which now houses the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx practice facilities and offices.

Based on a 2023 assessment, the market value for the hotel at 601 N. First Ave. has dropped to almost $28 million, according to Hennepin County property records.

Milwaukee-based Marcus Hotels has a large portfolio of Midwestern assets, particularly concentrated in Wisconsin. It also manages the Hilton Minneapolis/Bloomington in Bloomington and previously managed the Crowne Plaza-Northstar Hotel in downtown Minneapolis.

But the Loews hotel is Hempel’s fourth major investment in downtown Minneapolis in the past year alone, and the company has indicated there's more to come, including a potential commercial-to-residential conversion.

Hempel paid $46 million for Lasalle Plaza, a 30-story office building at 800 LaSalle Ave., in June. That’s almost half of its current estimated market value.

Hempel then bought a 850-stall parking ramp with a skyway connection to LaSalle Plaza for just under $10 million in August and the nearby Pence Building for $3.6 million in October.

LaSalle Plaza, the parking ramp and the Pence Building are all within a block of each other. They’re about two blocks away from the Loews hotel.

"When you can control enough real estate in one area, you can start changing the narrative for that area," Hempel CEO Josh Krsnak told the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal after the Pence Building sale. "We really want to do the best we can to add value to the city of Minneapolis."

Now, Hempel is in the process of renovating parts of LaSalle Plaza, including the lobby and an amenity space with golf simulators and a bar for it office tenants. At least one pickleball court is being added in the building's vacant restaurant space, last occupied by Rock Bottom Brewing, too.

Ben Krsnak of Hempel shared renderings of the lobby, lounge and pickleball court on Twitter/X right after the Lowes hotel announcement went out.

LaSalle Plaza's pickleball court won't be the first in downtown Minneapolis, though. Life Time added three indoor pickleball courts to its Target Center gym early last summer, and there are two outdoor pickleball courts in Loring Park that are currently under construction and expected to open in the spring.