With construction bids to build new football and basketball venues and a Center for Excellence for all student-athletes "now due in less than three weeks," the Univ. of Minnesota is "fast-tracking a $150 million chunk of an ambitious project to reshape its 25 sports," according to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. New university documents "reveal plans for groundbreaking to begin no later than September, with an expected completion date" of July '17. The university "officially opened its 'athletics facilities village' project to bidding from construction companies late last week with a request for proposal, laying out the construction timeline for the first time." The document "calls for bids by Feb. 9 and a construction company chosen by March 2." Minnesota Senior Associate AD/Strategic Communications Chris Werle yesterday said that $65M of the $190M goal "has been raised toward the project." Immediate attention "will go to new practice facilities for football and men’s and women’s basketball," and for the Center for Excellence, an academic-focused building. Former North Stars exec Lou Nanne "is leading the U’s fundraising campaign." Minnesota "worked with two firms during the recently completed design stage," St. Paul-based BWBR Architects and Iowa-based RDG Planning & Design. The next steps are "hearing from construction companies and accepting a bid" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 1/20).
