ST. PAUL  — Minnesota’s governor is losing his office — literally.

Gov. Mark Dayton and his staff have about six months left in their two-floor suite before a massive renovation to the century-old Capitol displaces them. They’ll relocate to the Veterans Services Building on the edge of downtown St. Paul by June, he said Tuesday.

Dayton said he personally nixed a move to the closer Centennial Office Building because he was concerned about the high costs of retrofitting that space, particularly in an election year.

“The remodeling and renovation costs here were something I did not want to see associated with me,” Dayton said as he left an employee recognition ceremony at Centennial.

The Veterans Building space is vacant and considered move-in ready.

The Democratic governor — or his successor if he is defeated next fall — won’t return to the Capitol until December 2016 at the earliest.

A $270 million project is under way to recondition the Capitol inside and out.