Stadium builders, architects to showcase project outstate

Have a question or two or 10 for the builders and designers of the new Vikings stadium?

Here's your chance.

Beginning next week, the construction manager and the architectural firm behind the nearly billion-dollar, downtown Minneapolis home for the NFL team are hitting the road to talk about everything from the construction timeline to the building's interior design.

Starting July 29, Mortenson Construction and Thor Construction, the project builders, will hold the first of four public informational meetings at the International Market Square in Minneapolis. Similar presentations are scheduled for August 6 at the Marriott Hotel in Rochester, August 7 at the Greysolon Ballroom by Black Woods in Duluth, and August 8 at the City Center Hotel in Mankato. Each meeting will begin at 4 p.m.

Later next month, representatives of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, which is overseeing the project, the Vikings and HKS Inc., the stadium architect, will head outstate to show off and discuss the building's design.

The first meeting is scheduled for August 20 at Canal Park Lodge in Duluth. The group will be at the Mankato City Center Hotel in Mankato on August 21 and at the Courtyard Marriott in Moorhead on September 18. Each presentation will begin at 5:30 p.m.

Groundbreaking on the $975 million project is set for later this fall.