CHS Inc. once again owns the Inver Grove Heights headquarters building that has been its home for decades.

Agricultural cooperative CHS paid $48.7 million in cash to a subsidiary of Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks, which bought the corporate campus in 2017 for $55 million, according to state records.

"CHS continues to invest in providing a leading office environment for our employees, and the decision to reacquire the headquarters site aligns with this objective," a CHS spokesperson said Tuesday. "The purchase made financial sense for CHS, given the company's long-term commitment to the headquarters site, the city of Inver Grove Heights and the surrounding Twin Cities community."

The initial sale of the 24-acre property at 550 Cenex Drive included a 20-year lease for CHS to remain as a tenant, and it occurred several months after CEO Jay Debertin was hired.

CHS is in talks with Illinois-based ag cooperative Growmark that could lead to a merger. The building purchase could help ease concerns that such a move might rob the Twin Cities of a Fortune 500 headquarters.

The firm has spent nearly a decade renovating the 340,000-square-foot office to create "a more collaborative work environment for staff to serve member-owners and reflect the judicious approach that their audience, many of them farmers, take in their own business practices," according to the co-op's commercial architect partner, BWBR.

CHS is by far the largest employer in Inver Grove Heights and has 1,100 employees at its headquarters. The company offers a mix of in-person, remote and hybrid work arrangements.

The cooperative connects agricultural goods to consumers around the world and had $45.6 billion in revenue last year.