Coen+Partners Expands to 45 Employees Under New Leadership After Founder's Death

Coen+Partners, the Minneapolis landscape architecture firm, has more than doubled in size since 2019, now employing approximately 45 people under three partners: Thomas Doyle, Robin Ganser, and McKenzie Wilhelm. The firm, founded in 1992 by Shane Coen and a partner as Coen+Stumpf, became Coen+Partners in 2000 when Coen took sole ownership. Coen died in 2025 at age 61. An ownership transition in 2022 prepared the office for succession; the partners became equal owners in 2023 and divided the practice into three specialized studios in 2024. Offices are in Minneapolis and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with remote workers in Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York. Current projects include the ongoing Sports Boulevard in Riyadh—a 77-mile linear park on a former high-voltage power corridor, developed with Typsa and El Dorado as part of Saudi Vision 2030—and The Shenandoah, a 640-acre wellness and hospitality center in Star Tannery, Virginia, with Olson Kundig and Marlon Blackwell Architects. Completed works include the 2025 Crystal Bridges expansion in Bentonville, Arkansas, a 114,000-square-foot addition to Safdie Architects' original design, and the 2019 rehabilitation of Peavey Plaza in Minneapolis, originally completed by M. Paul Friedberg in 1975. The firm continues to adhere to Coen's principle of 'contextual minimalism,' the title of its 2018 monograph.