Shutterfly to demolish half of Lifetouch building to make green space

GaryPageau ,
Shutterfly is proposing to demolish the western-most, 116,685-square-foot building on its campus and leave the area as open green space. Photo by Mark Weber

Eden Prairie Local News reports photo personalization giant Shutterfly is reducing the footprint of its Eden Prairie operations through a proposed demolition of the western-most building of its two-building campus north of I-494, along Viking Drive. The Eden Prairie city council needs to approve the plan, which was endorsed by Eden Prairie Planning Commission, according to reporter Mark Weber.

According to the article, architect Terry Helland, speaking on behalf of Shutterfly, said the campus was built in 1997 by Lifetouch, which was purchased by Shutterfly in 2018. Much of the building proposed to be demolished contains empty studio space, the article said.

“That use of space doesn’t really work for Shutterfly,” said Helland, who added that the building has been mostly unused the past couple of years. Shutterfly’s presence is mostly in the digital arena as a big online retailer and manufacturer of personalized photography and related products and services.

The demolition would reduce Shutterfly’s Eden Prairie campus from 258,850 square feet to 142,165 square feet.

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Gary Pageau is principal of InfoCircle LLC, continuing his marketing communications career. InfoCircle LLC is a marketing and communications consulting firm, specializing in business-to-business markets. For nearly 25 years, he was with PMA International, serving most recently as Publisher, Content Development and Strategic Initiatives. His primary responsibilities included overseeing the Association’s editorial department, marketing research unit, education and corporate relations department.