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U.S. Bancorp plans to bring nearly 300 employees to Capella Tower, the halo-topped office tower that rivals the IDS Center as one of the tallest buildings in downtown Minneapolis.

Rebekah Fawcett, senior vice president for U.S. Bancorp, said in an e-mail that later this year about 285 employees will move to a re­designed space on the 10th floor of the 58-story tower at 225 S. Sixth St., which is adjacent to the 22-story Star Tribune building.

There is additional space on that floor for another 50 employees to be added later.

"We are growing in downtown Minneapolis, and the space in the Capella Tower is perfect for our needs," she said. "They should be on site by the end of the year."

Most of those 285 employees are part of the bank's data and analytics team, while others are from adjacent functions such as marketing technology, data governance and risk modeling.

The company has about 14,000 employees, including employees at the corporate headquarters and branch offices, throughout the state. U.S. Bank already occupies several buildings in downtown Minneapolis, mostly at 800 Nicollet and in the U.S. Bank Plaza building, which is across the street from Capella and connected by skyway.

Fawcett declined to say how much space the company will occupy and to discuss lease terms.

"We don't generally comment on our space needs or strategies," she said. "We will be backfilling any space they are vacating in our existing facilities with other Twin Cities-based staff."

A source said the bank will occupy 55,000 square feet of space.

The building opened in 1992 as First Bank Place. Nearly a decade later, it was renamed after Capella Education Co. became one of its largest tenants. Major tenants include Baker Tilly and We Work.

The building is now owned by Shorenstein Properties, a San Francisco-based real estate investment company that paid $255 million for the tower last year.

The deal came together in the midst of a flurry of high-profile office sales in downtown Minneapolis during the last couple of years.