The Hormel Institute digs in

It took a bit longer than expected, but work on the $28.5-million expansion of The Hormel Institute officially began late last week.

“We’re just really glad to be actually moving on it,” said Craig Jones, the Institute’s manager of research support services and the building coordinator.

Work on the project to add 20 laboratories and about 120 new jobs was originally slated to start in June but was pushed back. Several groups have a stake in the project: The Institute received $13.5 million in state funds and $15 million from the Hormel Foundation. Jones said it was complicated to get the legal work and necessary things complete to start construction.

“It just is a complex project with many different entities involved,” he said.

Jones led the Institute’s $23.4-million expansion from 2006 to 2008, but he said this project is different because of the state money, which the 2006-08 expansion did not receive.

Initially, work was slated to be completed by August of 2015, but now the Institute is aiming for October of 2015.

With the delay, a lot of the work will be completed in the winter, which Jones said shouldn’t be a problem.

“We will be doing more of the outside work during the winter; it’s all doable,” he said, adding the first expansion started during the winter.

Much of the initial work will be on infrastructure and other preparatory items. Jones estimated it’d be a month to six weeks before the steel structure started going up.

Work on a 250-seat lecture hall being built in conjunction with the expansion is slated to start next spring.

“It’s really a totally separate project,” Jones said.