JE Dunn to Construct $498m Minnesota State Building

Project cost are up due to inflation, supply chain disruption, and labor shortages.

Source : Wikipedia Commons

January 20, 2023

Author : Alex Bustillos

A new half a billion dollar government construction project in Minnesota is about to get underway. The project is needed to renovate the Minnesota State Office Building. 

The 1930s State Office Building faces infrastructure, security, and accessibility issues. It will require massive renovation and expansion work, to which the state's House committee, on December 21, 2022, approved $498 million in makeover costs.

This project includes renovation of the existing 290,000 square feet, and expansion of 166,000 square feet building, covering a total of 456,000 square feet. 

According to a survey of previous Twin Cities building projects and industry estimates, the state will pay more than double the cost of new construction and nearly four times the cost of an ongoing historic rehab project in Minneapolis. While the estimated construction cost of a high-end office in the twin cities is $480 per square foot, the State Office Building project will cost $1,092 per square foot.

JE Dunn Construction Company of Kansas City, Missouri, is responsible for rehabbing the Minnesota State Building. They were also a part of the cost-estimating team. JE Dunn was founded in 1924 and has been vetted by ENR magazine as being one of the leading construction firms in America. 

JE Dunn will start working on the project this summer and complete it in time for the 2027 legislative session.

Waslaski, director of real estate and construction services for the state, said several large auditoriums in the State Official Building would meet high energy efficiency standards and abide by wage, equity, and inclusion requirements.

The project follows the Capital Area Architectural and Planning Board guidelines, including the expensive granite sliding. It means rebuilding the structure would have been more costly with the need for granite sliding. 

Additionally, the 2021 state government spending bill prohibits tearing down and fully rebuilding these structures that gave way to renovation.

The former House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler said the infrastructural renovation would cost $255 million; however, the building lacked accessibility and security measures, which made the state government estimate the current figures. 

According to city estimates, building the new RBC Gateway Tower in downtown Minneapolis will cost $480 million.

Three other projects in Minneapolis that cost a part of the total cost of renovating and expanding the State Office Building are: The Dayton's Project, the new construction of the Minneapolis Public Service Center, and the construction of the new Minneapolis headquarter building of 264,000 square feet.  

The conversion of the existing Dayton department store in Minneapolis, with a 1.2 million square feet building area, into an office and retail space will cost $350 million. At the same time, the new building space for Minneapolis Public Service Center, built on 370,000 square feet, costs $195 million.

A significant contributor to this increased construction project cost has been the growing inflation, supply chain disruption, and labor shortage. In the last fiscal year, construction costs in Minneapolis increased by 8.7%

Contractor News had previously reported a 21% nationwide spike in non-residential construction material costs. 2023 brings a fresh lease of life to commercial construction, which was hit hard during the pandemic.

Category : Contractor Trades Investment in Infrastructure State Government

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