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.

The cooperative declined to comment Monday when asked why it repurchased the 24-acre property at 5500 Cenex Drive. The initial sale to SunTrust 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 with 1,600 employees and two locations, according to city filings. Recent job postings show the company offers a mix of remote and hybrid work arrangements for corporate roles.

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