wfn.org | Augsburg Fortress to Sell Minneapolis Property

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

NEWSBRIEF

July 30, 1996

AUGSBURG FORTRESS TO SELL MINNEAPOLIS PROPERTY

Augsburg Fortress, Publishing House of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America, plans to sell its property in downtown
Minneapolis to the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners.  The
parties reached an agreement that may lead to the formal purchase
for as much $8,250,000.  The agreement includes a number of
conditions, such as environmental issues, governmental approval
and finding appropriate replacement space for Augsburg Fortress
in Minneapolis.  The corporate office will relocate within two
years.  It houses 250 employees.  The Augsburg Fortress property
had been considered in an earlier search for a jail site, but
negotiations were unsuccessful.  The county will use the property
as a "safety facility."  Augsburg Fortress is the third largest
church-owned publishing house in the United States.  It has 13
retail centers in the United States, three in Canada and one in
Puerto Rico, and a centralized distribution center in Ohio.
Augsburg Fortress began operating a new bookstore at Trinity
Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio, on July 1.  It runs bookstores
also on the campuses of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary,
Columbia, S.C., and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service,
(312) 380-2958; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir., (312) 380-2955; Lia
Christiansen, Asst. Dir., (312) 380-2956