The University of Minnesota has selected M.A. Mortenson to build its new Athletics Village, which will offer upgraded facilities for basketball and football, as well as academic resources for student-athletes.
U of M picks Mortenson to build new Athletics Village
The University of Minnesota has selected M.A. Mortenson to build its new Athletics Village, which will offer upgraded facilities for basketball and football, as well as academic resources for student-athletes.
March 2, 2015 at 3:33PM
The Golden Valley-based development company is no stranger to sports complexes. Mortenson is currently erecting the new Vikings Stadium and ranks as the second-largest sports builder in the U.S. It's also currently constructing the new Atlanta Braves ballpark.
Other notable sports projects include local landmarks like Target Field, Xcel Energy Center and TCF Bank Stadium. The list is long nationally as well, including Coors Field in Denver (home of the Colorado Rockies), Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis (home of the Rams), the multiuse Sprint Center in Kansas City and many more.
Mortenson has been a front-runner in the competitively bid process from the beginning. The company conducted a cost analysis for the $150 million project and has a long history of doing business with the U.
Construction companies interested in the project had only three weeks to submit their proposals. Interestingly, earlier this month Mortenson appointed a new director of project development for its Sports Group, Logan Gerken -- a former Gopher baseball player and U of M graduate in architecture.
Ultimately, the U cites Mortenson's extensive track record with sports facilities and work plan as the reasons for its selection.
"From the first day we shared plans for this project, we have been working against a very aggressive timeline to get these badly needly facilities built," said Norwood Teague, director of athletics at the U, in a statement. "Today's announcement is the latest point of progress as wel move toward providing our student-athletes with modern facilities that will help us fulfill our promise to help them achieve greatness in the classroom, in competition and later in life."
The U hopes to break ground no later than September and with a targeted completion date of July 2017.
**An earlier version of this story inaccurately referred to Gerken as a former Gophers basketball player. He played baseball at the U of M.
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