Construction costs

Minneapolis city officials said in a plan released Thursday that they could contribute more than $300 million to the construction and operations of a new Vikings stadium at the Metrodome. The plan says the city could pitch in about $6.5 million a year for 30 years to the stadium's operations and capital maintainance, while providing another $150 million to help construct the facility.  That works out to about $313 million in 2016 dollars, according to the mayor's office. Since $150 million will go to construction, that could leave the state with a bill of more than $450 million to construct the stadium. Beyond that, the plan offered little new details about how Minneapolis will redirect existing sales taxes (which currently prop up the convention center) to pay for a stadium while retaining enough money to sustain the convention center and pay off the Target Center debt. The plan also does not address what could be a stumbling block for mayor R.T. Rybak's efforts: the city's … [Read more...] about Minneapolis stadium plan provides for operating, construction costs

A long-planned renovation of the city-owned Target Center may have to be scaled back in some areas to cope with rising construction costs across the Twin Cities. The news comes exactly a year after city, Timberwolves and AEG officials announced a $97 million deal to overhaul the 24-year old building. The project is still on schedule for fall 2016 completion, but Timberwolves Senior Vice President Ted Johnson said they know the original budget won’t buy as much as they initially expected -- given the current construction market. The budget has also grown slightly, to $99 million, because the city and team each kicked in another $1 million after the Timberwolves vacated their Target Center offices – triggering a clause in the term sheet. The team is moving to the building formerly known as Block E. “We’re not going to be able to afford the exact same specific project that we had envisioned at $99 million two years ago,” Johnson said. “But I don’t … [Read more...] about Construction costs put squeeze on Target Center project

The good news is that the they got five bids.  But the bad news is that Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board staff had to reject all of them recently because they were far over the estimated cost and budget. So you can add Triangle Park play area near the southwest corner of Lake Nokomis to the list of metro-area park projects delayed by the overheated construction market in the Twin Cities area. The lowest bid came in 39 percent over the $414,000 estimated cost of the work, according to Adam Arvidson, project manager. It's just the latest casualty of the torrid construction market that has wreaked havoc with a variety of civic projects ranging from parks to streets, as detailed in a recent Star Tribune article. The difficulty in attracting favorable bids has been attributed to several large construction projects such as the new Vikings and Saints stadia and the mall of American expansion, a crush of projects deferred from the recession, a shortage of construction workers, and a … [Read more...] about Construction costs delay another park project