Cray pulling up St. Paul stakes for Mall of America

Ending weeks of speculation, Cray Inc. said Tuesday it will move its St. Paul offices along with some 350 employees into a newly built office complex at the Mall of America.

The Seattle-based supercomputer firm with longtime roots in Minnesota and Wisconsin said it would take over the top four floors of the new 10-story building known as "The Offices @ MOA."

"St. Paul has been a great regional home for Cray over the last seven years," Fred Kohout, Cray's chief marketing officer, said in a statement . "While it's always tough to leave a location you love, we are excited to move to a new site that will better facilitate our growth, and allow us to continue to build upon our strong presence in the region."

Cray was founded by the late Seymour Cray, a University of Minnesota graduate and key player at Control Data Corp. in the Twin Cities. Cray founded Cray Research in 1972 in his hometown of Chippewa Falls, Wis. In the 1980s, Cray built the fastest computers in the world.

In 2000, Seattle-based Tera Computer Co. acquired Cray Research and changed its name to Cray Inc. In 2009, the company moved its Twin Cities operations from Mendota Heights to the Galtier Plaza building in downtown St. Paul.

Cray expects to complete its move from St. Paul to Bloomington in the first half of 2017.

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