Vikings stadium contract goes to Mortenson Construction

Published 6:00 pm Saturday, February 16, 2013

Mortenson Construction soon will have put its stamp on every major sports home in the Twin Cities.

The builder of Target Field, Xcel Energy Center and Target Center was chosen Friday, Feb. 15, to construct the next home for the Minnesota Vikings, too.

The Minneapolis company was awarded a $12.5 million contract — up to $15 million with bonuses — to serve as construction manager for the $975 million stadium.

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The company was selected over an Arizona firm that built stadiums for the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals.

The Vikings’ current home, the Metrodome, will likely be torn down within a year, officials said. The team said Friday that it expects to play the 2014 and 2015 seasons at the University of Minnesota — whose stadium was also built by Mortenson.

The new Vikings facility would open in 2016 on the site of the Dome in downtown Minneapolis.

In terms of stadiums, Mortenson has “set the gold standard here in Minnesota,” said Michele Kelm-Helgen, chairwoman of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, which will own and operate the new stadium and is overseeing design and construction.

The five-member authority voted unanimously to give the job to Mortenson, which built Target Field for the Twins, the X for the Wild and Target Center for the Timberwolves.

On top of its local and national experience, Mortenson is a Minnesota company, Kelm-Helgen said. And that means “pretty much 100 percent Minnesota jobs,” she said.

The project will involve an estimated 7,500 workers and 4.25 million work hours.

Mortenson has never built a stadium with a retractable roof, which was a mark against it compared with the other finalist, Hunt Construction of Scottsdale, Ariz. Hunt had partnered with Kraus-Anderson Construction of Minneapolis on its stadium bid.